Agreement to save Girona's great green lung, which was going to disappear with the new Trueta stadium

GironaThe park is not touched. This is the name of the platform to conserve the Jordi Vilamitjana park, the great green lung of Girona that had to disappear due to the construction of the new Josep Trueta Hospital health campus. And this Sunday they breathe a sigh of relief after organizing a full day of activities on Saturday to reclaim this space in the Can Gibert del Pla neighborhood. For over a year they have been fighting against the construction of 347 apartments in this oasis in the southern part of the city, which had become the major obstacle to the project that will occupy the Girona campus, since most of the facilities are located in Salt. But now it seems there are prospects of preserving the park.

After weeks of negotiations, the Catalan government and the City Council have agreed to study the possibility of relocating the buildings that were to be constructed to compensate the landowners where the campus will be located to the Mas Xirgu industrial park area, on land adjacent to Masrocs. This is the proposal made by the Catalan government's Department of Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition, headed by Minister Sílvia Paneque, which the Girona city council has accepted "once the land is ceded in advance for the construction of the hospital facilities." This is also contingent on the alternative not affecting flood-prone areas and being economically sustainable.

Investments in exchange

In exchange, a series of investments to improve public spaces in several city neighborhoods have been agreed upon. This will be finalized at an upcoming meeting, before the Christmas holidays, of the bilateral commission between the Catalan Government and the Girona City Council. This new decision-making body was promoted by Salvador Illa's administration when it took office, but until now it had only been implemented in Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, and Lleida, cities governed by Socialist mayors. "It is possible to build the Trueta stadium, avoid impacting Jordi Vilamitjana Park, and make every effort to ensure that Girona's health campus is operational as soon as possible," Sílvia Paneque stated in a joint press release with the city council regarding the investment agreement. Girona's mayor, Lluc Salellas, praised the "good work" carried out so far by the City Council, which "has allowed us to scrupulously adhere to the schedule and ensure that the health campus is not delayed."

Regarding Vilamitjana Park, Salellas is more cautious and limits his comments to the Government's approval of future investments for the neighborhood: "It will be analyzed taking into account its urban and legal viability, building data, the overall impact on the project and on the future of the campus."

"The fight is not over"

The platform "El Parc No se Toca" (Don't Touch the Park) says that "it's good news," but that "the fight isn't over yet" until they see a signed plan. "We also don't know its exact location, its economic viability, or whether the private owners will agree," says Anna Ballestero, spokesperson for the organization and also president of Puput, the association that organized a full day of activities in the park on Saturday—from a flea market to a reggae party. "The agreement is there, the will is there, it seems; we'll see how it progresses in the coming days; we will continue demanding that this materialize. We won't let up," she adds.

Boost for the new Trueta

After turning the page on this impasse regarding the construction of the future health campus, "the most important project undertaken in the Girona region in recent decades," both parties indicate that they "share" the view that "this proposed improvement" cannot, under any circumstances, lead to delays in the opening of the hospital park. Salellas has repeatedly expressed concerns that the new Hospital Clínic in Barcelona will be built ahead of the new health campus in Girona. However, the procedures have accelerated this past autumn. The Girona City Council has begun the approval phase for the contracting of the land readjustment and urbanization projects, while the Catalan Government has already commissioned the preliminary study for the health campus project tender.