The tug of war continues between Franco Tosi Meccanica and Palazzo Malinverni over the new PGT of Legnano, now close to approval with a real council “marathon” that will begin on Thursday 30 May and already sees ten dates marked in red on the calendar for the examination of the counter-deductions and the definitive green light for the local government plan. The new urban planning tool, in fact, is the next challenge on the route of the historic factory in Piazza Monumentowhich after the industrial game finds itself playing the urban planning one and not without shocks: proof of this vitriolic criticism leveled by the new ownership against the variation to the urban planning instrumentdefined in no uncertain terms as penalizing for the company.
From the “cut” to the building rights up to the internal road system of the company, passing through the perimeter of the transformation areas which in one way or another involve the factory, the doubts of Franco Tosi, whose business branch relating to characteristic management was taken over in 2015 by the Presezzi group, with respect to the new PGT I’m not a secret. But when Palazzo Malinverni had opened to observations relating to the production part there seemed to be a need for a truce between the Municipality and the owners.
Hopes, however, were wrecked after the river council commission focused on the analysis of the counterarguments to the PGT, when Franco Tosi had made it known that «contrary to what is implied, there is no agreement between the parties concerning our production activity or the destination of the areas surrounding the plant” and reiterated “the fundamental importance of internal roads at the production site for the maintenance and efficiency of our activities”, underlining that “the possibility of easily moving materials inside and outside our factory it is an essential condition to guarantee operational continuity and the quality of services
offered to our customers.”
A position also supported by the oppositionprimarily by the Citizens’ Movement which spoke of a PGT which «will block Tosi’s production», and which in an open game and probably to be played point by point could not fall on deaf ears, so much so that by immediate return of post the mayor Lorenzo Radice and the match councilor Lorena Fedeli spoke about «imaginative reconstructions of realities that simply do not exist».
«After the famous buildings that we wanted to demolish at the Manufacture and which it was understood that not us, but the Superintendence, had protected with very specific limits, today it is the turn of the trucks that will no longer be able to transport goods within the area Franco Tosi – underline Radice and Fedeli -. As it is evident that someone, months ago, wanted to play on the passion of the people of Legnano for the history of the former Manifattura, so one wonders if today others are trying to leverage what the name Franco Tosi arouses in Legnano so as not to recognize to the city what, in the face of any urban development operation, and therefore of valorisation and increase of its heritage, is due by law».
In short, from Palazzo Malinverni they reiterate that Franco Tosi is asked for «only one public utility: the construction of a stretch of road that will allow the city to solve a historical problem of Legnano, i.e more direct access to the station from the south, thus partially freeing Via Alberto da Giussano from traffic.” «This public utility was also identified to enhance the station itself, identified by the metropolitan city as an Urban Mobility Place and, therefore, strategic for the city – explain the mayor and councilor at the match -. If Franco Tosi Meccanica does not want to develop the transformation area, everything will remain unchanged and the movement of goods will continue to take place as it does today. If, however, Franco Tosi Meccanica wants to develop the area, then, by law, like any other operator, it must undertake to provide this public utility to the city».
We talk about “an area of approximately 1,800 square meters out of a total of 86,670 square meters of the sector, therefore equal to 2% – add Radice and Fedeli -. On these approximately 1,800 square meters today there are small warehouses, which they do not impact the areas for handling goods; therefore a minimum contribution from the private operator to solve a public and historical problem of our city. We are therefore asking Franco Tosi to help the Municipality respond to a need of thousands of citizens of Legnano, users of the railway, by creating a parallel road, and we emphasize parallel because it does not interfere with company traffic and, indeed, it can open a further route of communication between the factory, the station and the city”.
«The observation presented by the owners – the mayor and the urban planning councilor add to the matter – does not oppose the construction of the road (demonstrating the quality of the objective), but asks that it also insist on the ownership of Ferrovie dello Stato, currently affected by rolling stock. The proposal to transfer a part of the road route onto another property, that of Ferrovie, concerns the area of a subject that has nothing to do with the development of the Franco Tosi Meccanica area and it is not acceptable, as well as harmful for Franco Tosi Meccanica itself, because it would tie it to the Railways: in other words the company would not be able to develop its own project without first agreeing with the Railways with a clear extension of time. In any case, the door to the municipal administration to talk to the company about development plans is always open; of course, provided that the owners do not prefer to use other communication channels compared to the administration and offices: certainly noisier channels but completely useless for the realization of any concrete project”.
Radice and Fedeli do not even spare the company’s statements regarding the non-existence of an agreement between the administration and Franco Tosi Meccanica, which they define as “surreal”. «The administration talked about something completely different, that is, about a clause, the one for the passage of Franco Tosi Meccanica’s vehicles, which is included, as an attachment, in the sales deeds with which the Franco Tosi company acquired the areas now owned by it from the liquidator of the old Franco Tosi. Deeds of sale, which the company itself should be well aware of, therefore quite different from the elusive agreement between Franco Tosi Meccanica and the municipal administration. Also in this case, We hope that the discussion can take place in institutional settings and be based on official documentationan indispensable support for starting a truly constructive dialogue aimed at speaking in the appropriate forums about the real issues on the table.”
