PSOE, Hacemos, Comercio Córdoba, CCOO and UGT ask that the ZGAT be limited to the historic centerAJ GONZALEZ
The municipal groups of PSOE and We make CordovaunionsCCOO and UGTand the employers’ association represented by Commerce Córdoba They want the High Tourist Zones (ZGAT), that is, the area where freedom of commercial hours is established at certain times of the year.is restricted to historic helmet to the World Heritage area. It would be a matter of returning to the ZGAT that was in force in Córdoba since 2012, the year in which the regulations came into force, until 2023 when it was extended to the entire municipal area.
Members of the ZGAT commission, meeting today.
The request of these groups is made public one day after the municipal commission of the ZGAT, created by the Plenary Session of Córdoba, met to take note of the Study carried out by a consultancy firm external to the City Council on the impact that the extension of flexible opening hours in the capital’s shops has had on employment and the economy.
What the study says
Based on this study, the commission agreed yesterday ask the Junta of Andalusiathe competent body in this matter, that the ZGAT be reduced in time and space, but transferred to the consulting firm the decision on whether the area should remain in the World Heritage area or be expanded to the central district, with the inclusion of the establishments and large stores between Jesús y María and Avenida de América. In its report, the consultant says: “There are perfectly valid technical criteria both for requesting a ZGAT that corresponds to the entire central district, and for a proposal that is limited to the territory declared by UNESCO.”
PSOE, Hacemos, Comercio Córdoba, CCOO and UGT They lean toward the historic center but open the door to the possibility of extending the area to the downtown district.
Opinion of Córdoba Trade
The president of the Comercio Córdoba employers’ association, Rafael Bados, He first highlighted the conclusions of the study carried out by the consultancy firm: “The impact of the ZGAT in Córdoba has not been positive for the city; There was talk that this would lead to an increase in sales and a rise in employment, but it has become clear that this has not happened.”
For this reason, Bados asks the municipal government to renounce this declaration of the ZGAT and promote a limitation in time, that there would only be time freedom in EasterApril, May and September; and a spatial boundary. “If it is feasible our first option is limit the ZGAT to the World Heritage area which is what Comercio Córdoba has been defending since 2012, failing which the possibility of extending it to the central district would have to be analyzed,” he comments.
PSOE criteria
The socialist councillor Carmen Gonzalez has been in favor of limiting the ZGAT to the historic center, after the report commissioned from the consulting firm has demonstrated “with data” that the extension has not translated into job creation or economic impact. Furthermore, the PSOE councilor acknowledges that she would have liked the debate on the extension of the ZGAT to have been settled in yesterday’s committee.
Carmen González has made a historical journey and has blamed the Junta de Andalucía for changing “and “twist” the regulations in 2020 “to favor large stores”. He also stated that it took José María Bellido’s government a while to realise the real situation of trade, although the consultancy’s report has cleared up all doubts in his opinion. “They are based on objective data so there is no one who can doubt the proposal that is finally made,” said González, for whom the historic centre is the first option and the extension to the centre, the lesser evil.
Commercial environment on Cruz Conde street.
We do, CCOO and UGT
We do Córdoba, CCOO and UGT have also asked the mayor to establish the historic center as a Zone of Great Tourist Affluence to protect small and medium-sized businesses and prevent “unfair competition” that large commercial stores impose”.
Hacemos Córdoba, CCOO and UGT stress that the report reveals that the designation of the entire city as ZGAT “has not generated benefits for the city or its merchants, and that in fact the extension of the opening days has turned out to be more problematic than advantageous, since it has not increased tourism, it has increased the environmental impact and there has been no evidence of an increase in employment or of improvements in the existing employment”. Furthermore, the unions recall that The fact of working more Sundays “is making it difficult to reconcile family and making employment precarious, especially among women”.
Although this is their position, they recognize the need to negotiate and are open to considering the inclusion of the central districtas long as it does not extend to the entire city, since this has not proven to be beneficial for local commerce. In addition, Hacemos Córdoba, CCOO and UGT advocate a reduction in the number of months in which opening is allowed on holidays. They propose that this period be limited to a maximum of three months,
