On Wednesday the Ibiza PP accused Sant Josep Town Council of leaving 50 families “in the street” and of ordering the eviction of building A of the Don Pepe Apartments saying it was “a political decision” and “not a technical one”.
At a press conference, spokesman Javier Marí blamed the current mayor, Ángel Luís Guerrero, and the previous one, Josep Marí Ribas, now Balearic councillor for Housing, for “handling the case in this way”, saying the decision was “a real nonsense” as it leaves the inhabitants of the building “homeless”, the Popular Party reported in a statement.
Marí considers that the circumstances allow “other avenues to be explored” and pointed out that the building was erected with a licence application dated 1964, approval for which the Council cannot find today, which “does not mean that the licence does not or has never existed”.
He also indicated that the fact that technical experts have declared the building a “ruin” does not necessarily mean the demolition of the block, an option that the Popular Party considers “purely political”.
In this regard, Marí pointed out that the PP presented in Parliament a proposal to modify Urban Planning Law to authorise consolidation and repair work on buildings without planning, a move rejected by PSOE and Unidas Podemos.
Among other issues, he criticised the Council’s justification that rehabilitating the building could cost 4 million euros, but that between the purchase and demolition of the building “more than 3 million euros would be spent”, an amount that “does not warrant” leaving its inhabitants “in absolute ruin”.
Marí also questioned whether the solution to the “plight” of these families was for the Council to pay for flats for two months “leaving them on the street in the middle of the tourist season” with all the housing difficulties that exist during the summer in Ibiza.