Barcelona’s new mayor Jaume Collboni, who took office in mid-June, has introduced new measures in a bid to improve the city, including increasing fines for drinking and urinating in public.
The new fines are part of the Pla Endreça, Collboni’s new "Tidy-up" or "Straighten-up" plan to restore order and cleanliness to the city.
The three main parts of the plan are:
- Reinforcing and expanding maintenance
- Ensuring proper use of public facilities and shared responsibility
- Combating antisocial behaviour with authority
According to the latest municipal survey, insecurity and dirtiness are two of the main concerns of Barcelona residents.
This plan intends to combat both issues by increasing the amount of fines you can receive for incivility.
How much are the fines?
- Drinking alcohol on the street previously received a penalty of between €300 and €600. Now, anyone found drinking in public will automatically be fined €600.
- Graffitiing in public spaces increases from €300 to €500.
- Urinating in the street will be punished with fines of €200 to €300.
The mayoral office already warned that they will be "very strict" about cracking down on these behaviors, increasing the fines for the most serious cases.
Albert Batlle, Councillor for Security and Coexistence of the Barcelona City Council, assures that the increase in sanctions by 55 percent will be enforced. "We hope it will improve public spaces," he said.
What else will the plan include?
Weekly cleaning inspections will be increased from 600 to 1,800, with the aim of ensuring that all contracted cleaning services are carried out properly.
- More intensive cleaning of parks, squares and green areas
- More cleaning of the seashore and the beaches
- Increasing the number streets that are cleaned with water
The plan also includes more intense cleaning of pavements, as well as "rapid intervention brigades", which quickly solve any cleaning issues that arise.
Phases two and three
The second phase of the Pla Endreça will take place from October 2023 to March 2024, and will increase the sanctioning capacity further, while in the third phase, in April 2024, the results will be evaluated.
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