The Mayor of Azkoitia, Javier Zubizarreta, made public a statement on the occasion of the debate and the rope that has generated the issue of the construction waste plant in Azkarate. It says that without the consensus of all “no construction and demolition waste recycling plants (RCD) will be built.”

To address the issue, the Municipal Government convened a Board of Spokespersons today, according to Zubizarreta, because it did not want to “explain its position in the media” before informing the other parties that make up the City Hall. “From respect for the will of the citizens,” the mayor expressed his desire that a decision be taken “unanimously” in today’s session. “We have seen the anger and concern that this issue has generated. If, in the face of the situation, after listening to parties, social partners and citizens, a global consensus is not reached, it makes no sense to give way to the project.”

In addition, the mayor says that the waste plant is not a municipal project: “Beyond preventing the City from discharging debris without any control, it has no special interest in this project. It is a private initiative authorized by the Basque Government.”

Eh Bildu de Azkoitia announced on Wednesday the need to amend the subsidiary rules for the construction of the plant, an issue on which the mayor explained in the note released today: “Regarding the information I had in my hands, I said that if the action were regulated the City Hall could not paralyze the project. That is the case. A more painstaking analysis led us to see that the modification of the subsidiary rules is not yet definitively approved – although the processing of the modification started more than two years ago – and so the corporation is still in time to limit the implementation of CSR on non-urbanizable soil.”

The mayor recalled that the modification of the subsidiary rules "provided for recycling areas from the very beginning", but recognized that the authorization granted by the Basque Government is "much more extensive". “The modification of the rules does not allow these plants because it is limited to construction and demolition waste. The City Hall could not support the project we are discussing, even if it is not a landfill.”

Participatory process

Zubizarreta noted that, “although opinions seem clear”, he will launch a participatory process with the aim of “making a final decision”. The space for discussion will be located around the Urban Planning Commission, as the parties and agents request, “to listen to the positions for and against”. As he pointed out, the committees will give a voice to people and/or associations who provide all the points of view, when the coronavirus crisis is overcome and the situation is restored. The mayor said the City Hall will give details of the march as the agenda is “closed”.

Zubizarreta has once again launched a “message of tranquillity” and has acknowledged that they will act “with responsibility and conscience”, “respecting the maximum sense of citizenship”. However, he has called for an "unnecessary" alarm not to be created because nothing has yet been "specified" and because, according to him, "it will not materialize" without the consensus of all. In addition, he has denounced the "false information and accusations" disseminated to mediatize the matter and frighten the citizens, and has said that he "feels" that the city has not been able to give clear information at some point.