Mataró is one of the fifteen municipalities of the second metropolitan ring that make up the Arc Metropolità association and that oppose the Generalitat’s decision to transfer responsibility to the municipalities for the authorization of private or community pools as climate shelters.
The metropolitan municipalities declare themselves satisfied to be able to open the public municipal swimming pools as they had demanded, but they consider that “the decision unfortunately comes late, due to form and substance.” The fact that private pools can open to the public with prior authorization from the city councils “gives us a responsibility that is not ours.”
This Tuesday, the Government of the Generalitat has approved a Decree for the modification of the Special Drought Plan. This modification includes new measures regarding the establishment of a census of climate shelters in which municipalities may include public and private swimming pools open to citizens. This will allow the opening of municipal swimming pools this summer, as the municipal world has been requiring for weeks.
From Arc Metropolità they consider that it is worth remembering that this announcement arrives at the doors of an electoral campaign, with just enough time for local entities “to guarantee the quality of the facilities and their correct implementation” a preparation that normally requires weeks in advance. At this time “we find ourselves with little room to work under favorable conditions.”
Unfortunately, they point out that “we do not find receipt that the Generalitat transfers responsibility for the authorization of private or community pools to the town councils.” The Decree approved today will allow privately owned swimming pools that have an agreement with the city council to be filled as long as their use is openly open to citizens under the same conditions that public swimming pools operate.
“It seems completely unmanageable to us that communities of owners and private pools become climate refuges in exchange for citizens being able to enter. This is passing the pressure of this decision onto the town councils and their owners, in a framework of little clarity and little legal certainty. We believe that this is a decision that corresponds to the Generalitat, and its inclusion in the Decree only serves to avoid assuming it. Facilities of this type must comply with rigorous regulations and controls, to which aspects related to safety and civil liability. In rare cases, a private pool can be compared to the regulation of a public pool and its conditions, as defined by the Decree.
“Opening the municipal swimming pools is essential to offer all possible spaces to citizens to face a summer that we predict will once again be suffocating. But when the Generalitat transfers the responsibility of opening private pools to local entities, it once again avoids its responsibility and puts the municipalities on the ropes,” says the president of the ARC, Ana María Martínez, mayor of Rubí.
In conclusion, they point out in a statement that “we are satisfied because finally this year we are going to save the summer season, allowing the public municipal pools to open” as had been claimed, guaranteeing access to these climate refuges for citizens. In any case, “we find it totally unfortunate, in form and substance, the inclusion of private swimming pools if they are opened to the public with prior authorization from the town councils, since it transfers to us a responsibility that is not ours and we fully question its good nature.” management and governance”.
