An organization to defend the Old Town of Iruñea
The Bizitzeko Alde Zaharra ('Old Town Alive') organization is up and going in Iruñea, Navarre. Many stakeholders got together at Iruñea's Maravillas Youth House (Youth Houses are community squats) to find a solution to the transformation taking place in the historical Old Town district.
The project's main aims are to defend local people's interests and encourage local life. The hotel plan for an old commercial centre particularly worries them.
The project stems from a meeting held last October. In order to work for local people's interests, they want to protect the Old Town as a district for living in. Javier Hualde, a member of Bizitzeko Alde Zaharra, says that the transformation for tourism which has been going on over recent years has led to several factors which make daily life difficult. "The noise at night has a direct impact, as, of course, does mass tourism in the district".
Local people are very worried about the hotel project which is planned to be built in the Old Town over the next few months. "They are going to provide 267 beds in the hotel they are going to open in a historical building. We aren't against tourism, and certainly not against people who come to visit us, but we think there are already enough hotels in the Old Town", Hualde explained to Ahotsa.info in a video.
He is worried because he thinks that the possible consequences for the district may be worse than "unsolvable". “It's a huge project, and, just taking into account the number of people who are going to stay there, it's going to change local people's lives completely”.
This article was translated by 11itzulpen; you can see the original in Basque here.
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