Por Redaccion 
El Government will begin processing the Special Naval Blue Plan at the Board
The Gijón City Council has announced this Friday that the Governing Board, in an extraordinary meeting, will approve next Monday the formal requirement to the Port Authority to proceed with the completion of the process related to the transfer of the coastal strip linked to the lands of the former Naval Gijón shipyard.
In this way, the Port will have a maximum of 30 days to do so. If it insists on not complying with the agreement, the matter will be automatically escalated to the judicial route.
According to a press release from the Gijón City Council, this latter issue has been worked on by the legal advice of the City Council, in coordination with the Mayor’s Office, since the Port Authority «ignored» the formal request from the mayor and vice president of the Port, Carmen Moriyón.
She requested the inclusion of the completion of the transfer of the coastal strip as an item on the agenda of the last Board of Directors meeting.
Regarding the accusations of disloyalty sent by the Port Authority, the City Council has insisted that they only defend the fulfillment of the signed agreements.
In this sense, it has considered that the greatest example of loyalty was the fact that the City Council proceeded to pay for the lands in advance, «in order to expedite the operation and trusting in the seriousness and commitment of the port,» they have emphasized.
Also at the Governing Board, it will begin next Monday, as the majority owner of the area and by virtue of its urban planning competences, the processing for the Special Naval Blue Plan, to turn the lands of the former Naval Gijón shipyard into a blue economy hub.
In this way, the Governing Board, convened in an extraordinary session, will give the green light to the start of the procedure, a necessary preliminary step for the granting of licenses that will result in the installation of companies linked to the sea.
This process will have an estimated duration of 18 months, during which, the City Council, through the Department of Urban Planning and the Department of Urban and Rural Infrastructure, will provisionally condition the land, opening up the entire area for the use and enjoyment of the citizens. These works, which have already been preceded by the complete clearing of the area, will begin «immediately».
In this sense, they have pointed out that the specifications of the Special Plan, on which the Urban Planning technicians have been working for months towards an «imminent» tender, establish the conditions under which the future business hub will be organized.
«This includes the transformation of the industrial space into a driver of change in the West area, the recovery of a significant part of the waterfront for public use, the introduction of productive uses linked to the blue industry, providing the neighborhood with the beginning of a new road connection, configuring an urban edge through unique buildings, improving and completing existing communications, ensuring the permeability of the built front to open spaces, and organizing along the maritime edge a free space for public use and enjoyment, which will connect with the current free space of Poniente beach,» they have pointed out.