A plan that blocks new buildings and conditions the demolition and consequent reconstruction of properties present in areas already built upon and affected by the flood of May last year. These are in summary the contents of the preliminary special plan defined by the extraordinary commissioner for reconstruction Francesco Paolo Figliuolo in collaboration with the Region, which contains the first intervention strategies and urban planning guidelines for the Lower Romagna area, in light of the flooding that occurred over a year ago. The restrictions restrict not only private construction but also public and business construction, creating, according to the mayors of the nine municipalities of the Union, obstacles to the recovery of the territory and, in some cases, of businesses already affected by the flooding. “We consider the measures extremely penalizing for the economic and social development of the communities affected by the flood of May 2023 – underline the nine mayors of the Municipalities of Lower Romagna in a letter sent to the Region and Commissioner to express their disappointment –. While sharing the spirit of the instrument, aimed at protecting as a precaution those areas that have been affected by the calamitous phenomena, some doubts remain regarding the evident disparities that are applied between adjacent areas, which find themselves having to be managed with different building rules”.
The planning was coordinated by the Po river basin district authority in collaboration with the Region, within the working group chaired by the support structure of the extraordinary commissioner for reconstruction and composed, among others, of hydraulic authorities, universities, Upi, Anci, Metropolitan City of Bologna, Ispra, Forestry Carabinieri, but not by local administrations – another reason for perplexity for the mayors of the area. This meant that the cartography on which the preliminary plan is based is different from that drawn up by the Municipalities.
“They operated on the basis of satellite surveys, which sometimes do not correspond to the real ones of the territorial governments – the Municipality of Lugo informs us –. For this reason we ask for a change in the legislation, in particular so as not to penalize businesses. The de facto restrictions they also block applications already submitted and being evaluated to, for example, enlarge a shed or create a new yard”. “We cannot think that protection, whatever it may be, can be understood only and exclusively as a prohibition – the mayors conclude in the letter – but the precautionary forms introduced must be accompanied by structural interventions that can progressively release the measures preventing the development of the initiative private”.
Monia Savioli
