“Stop supermarkets in Catania”: the proposal of the 5 stars in the city council

April 24, 2024, 06:01

3 min read

CATANIA – One temporary suspension of authorizations for the construction of new supermarkets to Catania. After all, in the Etna capital there was no talk of anything else for a long time: a Eurospin on the right, a Lidl to the left. Projects often contested by citizens and associations.

Now to propose putting a stop to the proliferation of “medium commercial sales structures”, i.e. large-scale retail trade shops, the 5 Star Movementwith an agenda signed by the city councilors Graziano Bonaccorsi and Gianina Ciancio.

The new constructions must not be stopped for life, underline the two city senators, but only until the new one has been “drafted and approved”. Commercial plan of Catania. That is, the document through which the administration attempts to direct the development of the city.

Catania second only to Oslo

“The city of Catania and its hinterland – write Bonaccorsi and Ciancio – have the highest concentration of shopping centers compared to the number of inhabitants“. Approximately 460 square meters of sales area per thousand people. A number which, according to the Five Star Movement, is second only to Oslo, Norway.

Beyond the large commercial centers (Etnapolis, The Portals, The Zagare, Gates of Catania and so on), it is the medium-sized sales structures that attract the attention of the advisors.

Even more so considering that the document that should regulate them, the Commercial Plan, dates back to 1971. Another chapter of city planning stops half a century ago. Like the Piccinnato master plan, which dates back to 1969.

Doubts about the new supermarkets

“In the last six years – continues the agenda – a dizzying and worrying increase of medium-sized commercial structures best-known brands in the sector. A phenomenon that generates doubts and shadows of building speculation.”

Even more so these days. After that, as told by LiveSicilyin the documents of the Pandora investigation of the Catania prosecutor’s office on mafia, politics and corruption, the opacity of the procedures for the construction of a Eurospin supermarket in Tremestieri Etneo. Event involving the company Recosta srl, which also deals with large-scale distribution in the Etna capital.

Cibali’s Eurospin

Recosta is, in fact, the company responsible for the operation of the Eurospin supermarket via Sabato Martelli Castaldi, in the Cibali neighborhood. The construction of the shop, on the border with the Cibali business center area, cost the director of urban planning of the municipality of Catania a indictment for abuse of office.

In addition to the director Biagio Bisignanithe trial also of another municipal employee, Rup Salvatore Bonaccorsi; to the legal representative of Recosta, Claudio Consoli; to his delegate, the engineer Mario Stanganelli (now also under investigation for the Tremestieri affair); it’s at Matteo Mionowner of Eurospin Sicilia spa.

The case of via Palazzotto

Graziano Bonaccorsi and Gianina Ciancio, however, also recall the case of the future Lidl in via Palazzotto: “In this case – they write – the administration had initially denied the building permit, complete with a ruling from the CGA”. The area in question, moreover, according to the ’69 Prg should be at the service of a school.

A few years ago, in 2018, the representatives of the Penny Market company asked for it. The refusal given to them was accompanied, on 29 November 2023, by the permission of the Production Activities Directorate addressed, instead, to Lidl Italia srl. With the approval of the municipal urban planning.

The moratorium on supermarkets

“The absence of a new Commercial Plan – write the Cinquestelle – does not give neighborhood businesses the opportunity to maintain a significant presence in the territory […] largely linked to the ability to react to the stresses coming from the market”.

Hence the request to the council chamber: a moratorium on supermarkets, at least until the new commercial plan is in place.

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