The TAR of Puglia accepted the appeal of 13 traders in Via Vittorio Emanuele II in Barletta who asked for the annulment of the ordinance of early March which provides for the closure of the road to vehicular traffic on weekends. The Administrative Court has therefore unraveled, at least for the moment, an affair which has provoked strong complaints from the commercial operators in the area who have always reiterated their opposition to an act born “without concertation and strategy with respect to the albeit laudable initiative of equipping the city of additional pedestrian areas”. However, from the many controversies and complaints, the 13 traders appealed to the TAR. An appeal that had correct and legitimate contours considering that, although the ordinance signed by the managers of the Local Police and traffic of the Municipality of Barletta was lawful, “the contested measures are fundamentally flawed due to an absolute lack of motivation and investigation” . A ruling that places emphasis precisely on this aspect, namely the “concrete needs appreciated in the context of the proceedings – we read in the ruling – nor even regarding the comparison and balancing between the hypothetical needs connected to mobility and the entrepreneurial interests of the commercial operators operating in the reference area”. Not even the reference to a previous order from the end of October, according to the Bari judges, has any value from a motivational point of view. The political reactions between the pros and cons of the majority and opposition were immediate but now the municipal administration will still have to find a valid alternative to that ordinance which is currently canceled and therefore immediately no longer applicable. There may be a further appeal by the institution or a new decision.
