Merchants from the city of Lleida have collected some 2,000 signatures, including businesses and civic and cultural entities, against the commercial park planned for Torre Salses.
After the sector presented a manifesto in October that supports local commerce and sent it electronically to the mayor of Lleida, Fèlix Larrosa, this Friday it was delivered to the municipal opposition groups in La Paeria.
Likewise, the merchants of the capital of Segrià have requested a meeting with the Mayor’s Office to talk about the future of commerce in Lleida, which they consider would be “seriously affected” by the construction of this shopping center on the outskirts of the city, between the neighborhoods de la Bordeta and Magraners.
The merchants expect to reach the figure of 5,000 signatures on the manifesto that shows their rejection of the shopping center on the outskirts of the city of Lleida.
The document recalls that local commerce encourages entrepreneurship, contributes to the discovery of the territory and is “closer, diverse and sustainable.” Likewise, the text defends that the wealth generated by local commerce is returned to the city itself and that it is “essential” for the economic fabric and the comfort of the inhabitants.
In this sense, the manifesto warns that the centers located on the outskirts limit access to “a large part” of the population, force clients and workers to make “unnecessary” trips, are “impersonal” and create jobs of ” low quality”.
For this reason, the sector is “deeply convinced” that it is “more coherent” to develop a shopping and leisure center within the urban fabric.
The representative of the Projecte Lleida Association and one of the promoters of the manifesto, Miguel Borraz, considers that locating the commercial park on the outskirts of the city would cause an emptying of establishments in the Eix Comercial. Something that, according to Borraz, would mean an “unfair replica” in commerce in Lleida and the regions in a context in which the sector must coexist with online purchases and a “recessive” economic cycle.
