The Madrid City Council has increased the maximum capacity of hospitality establishments such as bars, restaurants and nightclubs, although said expansion of capacity for existing premises in the tertiary sector must respect, in any case, the safety and accessibility regulations established in the Code Building Technician and may not suppose, by itself, an increase in the area of ??the premises.
This is a provisional measure, as the capital’s Hospitality Association has recognized. But, once it enters into force, after the urban planning procedures before the Community of Madrid, this modification will allow the capacity to be increased for special bar establishments and nightclubs up to a maximum capacity of 75 people, for bars and restaurants up to 175 people, and for those dedicated to shows up to 400 people.
The General Plan now in force, from the year 1997, still has capacity limits of 49 people maximum capacity for establishments of special bars and nightclubs, up to 99 people limit for bars and restaurants, and up to 300 people maximum capacity. in performance venues, according to what is included in the Urban Regulations of the City Council’s General Urban Planning Plan.
This “progress”, as hoteliers describe, will allow a more orderly activity in the sector by opening up the possibility for existing premises dedicated to these activities to update the capacity to the size of the establishments, always respecting their evacuation capacity.
In parallel, Madrid Hostelry has repeatedly proposed the modification of Article 7.5.35, requesting to eliminate the mandatory provision of parking spaces for new tertiary use activities, regardless of location, in the city of Madrid.
In this sense, the modification of the General Plan of 1997 maintains the obligation to have a parking space for every 100 square meters of authorized premises, and up to a maximum of one garage space for every 10 people with capacity, to grant the license to those new activities that are located inside Calle 30.
Outside Calle 30, the requirement for parking spaces is maintained with 1.5 parking spaces for every 100 square meters of premises or, in cases of great overcrowding, one space for every 25 people with capacity, and a maximum of a parking space for every 10 people of capacity.
José Antonio Aparicio, president of Hospitality Madrid, assured that “an opportunity to correct this anomaly has been lost, since it does not make sense to maintain the obligation of parking equipment in activities where customers use public transport as the main option for their mobility. This requirement also encourages private transport as opposed to the option of public transport, and it does so in places where the consumption of alcoholic beverages is allowed, the intake of which is prohibited while driving vehicles”.
