Novara “besieged” by logistics? «Excessive» says mayor Alessandro Canelli. But he acknowledges that there is a lot of pressure for new settlements, not only in the city but also in many municipalities in the belt, such as San Pietro Mosezzo, Trecate, Cameri, Romentino. And he expresses a hope: «Greater coordination at provincial level is urgently needed. The body should take charge of it, as we asked when we supported the current president in his election campaign, including this point in the program. There is no obligation, but it would be appropriate to better harmonize new creations. Multiplying logistics centers even in the hinterland is not the right path if it is not accompanied by a large-area coordination table.” The mayor shows a table with Ispra data, from which it appears that land consumption in Novara, between 2016 and 2022, went from 19.98% to 20.98%: just one point more, equal to 103 hectares. «The impact is much lower than that of cities comparable to ours with a strong logistical vocation – he continues – like Piacenza (25.27%), Brescia (44.15%), Bergamo (44.91%). In eight years we have built a total of 60 thousand square meters of warehouse, Amazon, on virgin land, which is also attached to a motorway toll booth.”
The other interventions already approved
Yes, but then there are the other interventions already approved, such as Corso Vercelli, or in the approval phase, such as the expansion of CIM in Pernatewhich would lead to having seven logistics centers in the city. «Nothing of all this – replies Canelli – has yet been achieved. On the new settlement proposals we are simply implementing urban planning programs already permitted by the town plan in force. In previous years everything was swampy and therefore those forecasts were not released sooner. I would add that, as I have already said several times, once this phase is completed, despite the significantly lower percentages of land consumption compared to other situations, we will block further settlement projects. In the new master plan they will no longer be there spaces for logistics”.
Canelli for more does not accept a negative view of this activity: «Given that my task as mayor is to ensure the city has a solid economic future by bringing companies and workers to the area, I observe that there is logistics and logistics. What has arrived so far is an industry at the service of industry. It’s not traditional logistics, with low-paid work entrusted to cooperatives, is not the “Biandrate model”: it is quasi-manufacturing. We have focused heavily on quality logistics. In all cities, developing areas need logistics. This demonization is difficult to understand. We are trying to govern the phenomenon: the price to pay is land consumptionbut balanced with rules on environmental compensation that exist and that we respect.”
The other cards to play
Finally he repeats a concept that he has expressed several times: «It is not correct to say that we have focused everything on logistics. A lot has also been done and is being done for the development of the university, with the creation of student residences, for tourist attractiveness, for excellent training linked to industrial activities already present, such as the fashion school. Logistics it is just one piece of a larger strategic project».
