"Let your voice be heard" - Alagoas Brancas wetland site Public Consultation information

07 May 2018

The Alagoas Brancas environmental group, working for a better future for the wetland area in Lagoa, ask Portuguese and foreign residents and visitors, especially those in the Lagoa Council area, to take part in the public consultation that ends on May 21st.

There is information below but the process it simply to let your views be known: the maintenance and development of a unique wetland area that gave 'Lagoa' its name, or to allow a Continente supermarket to built on the site which then will be lost for ever.

Readers can write a letter in Portuguese addressed to the 'Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Lagoa' expressing your observations, views, complaints or suggestions regarding the future you would like to see for the Alagoas Brancas site.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

ALAGOAS BRANCAS

Make your voice heard

We ask the participation of all Portuguese and Foreign residents and visitors, especially the Lagoa Council population to take part in this public consultation
Simply write a letter addressed to the 'Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Lagoa' expressing your observations, complaints or suggestions regarding the future you would like to see for the Alagoas Brancas site ( to be delivered at the “balcão único” at the Cãmara Municipal de Lagoa) or send an email to (saou@cm-lagoa.pt cc alagoasbrancas@sapo.pt ) It's necessary to include your full name and the number of an official identification document e.g. cartão de residência, passport and your address. According to the information desk at the Cãmara the letters/emails must be in Portuguese
If you think you live in a democracy now it is your time to make your voice heard.
The closing date for admissions is Monday, 21 May, 2018.

Save Lagoa´s lagoa (fresh water wetland habitat)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1804372499825939/?ref=group_header

or email alagoasbrancas@sapo.pt

Alagoas Brancas

Public Consultation

On 16^th of April the President of the Municipal Câmara of Lagoa published a notice on the Câmara's website announcing a period of public discussion about the licensing request made by Edifícios Atlântico SA to divide the site into building plots.

This comes as a complete surprise to activists who have been working hard to preserve the location as a haven for wildlife. At the time there was cause for optimism: the environmental commission of the national parliament had approved two resolutions formulated to safeguard Alagoas Brancas, one by Bloco de Esquerda and another by PSD, later voted and aprovedby the Assembleia da República; following this the fencing around the perimeter of the site was taken down and removed. Now it appears that the process is back in full swing.

In the notice, the President invites the public to come and view the licensing request, and to write a letter to him outlining their observations, suggestions and complaints. I took advantage of this invitation, visited the Câmara building and asked to see the file, which documents the planning procedure since its inception in 2008. I noted that on 27 February, the developers had submitted a new plan for the Câmara's approval (see photograph). It can be seen that this latest request differs only marginally from previous offerings and in no way does it attempt to accommodate the resident wildlife. Elsewhere an internal Câmara document seems to indicate that their architects are ready to endorse the plan. On the 10^th of April a committee made the decision to hold another public discussion, citing a government decree passed in 1999, which states that the public can have a say when projects ' have implications for the urban environment that justify the participation of local populations in respect of the decision-making process.'

The new plan from Edifícios Atlântico SA arrived at Lagoa Câmara just 12 days after the resolutions to protect Alagoas Brancas were approved in parliament. This does not seem like a coincidence. What does this say about the ethics of this company and its respect for environmental recommendations made by the government?

At a recent public Lagoa Câmara meeting, officials responded to questions from the public about the latest developments concerning Alagoas Brancas. It was admitted that the Câmara was aware of the parliamentary resolutions but they had no bearing on local government. It was up to the national government to enforce their own resolutions.

Other responses were that Alagoas Brancas does not have any importance (It says so in the file according to the ICNF report done in the middle of the Summer on a draught year!!!); and that it should be remembered that entrepreneurs also have rights. However, conversely, it was stated that the Câmara is committed to finding a solution. It was mentioned by the officials that the people fighting to preserve the Alagoas had rejected an offer from President which was “to move the lagoon from 7 hectares of land to a 1 hectare belonging to the Câmara” So if birds (as per the ICNF report) are affected by the city´s noise how would it be “moving “ them even closer to more noise e.g. the football field.

There is a popular saying that goes: 'If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.' Perhaps at this moment in time, the Câmara of Lagoa, regardless of their motives, by granting an additional public consultation, has made itself part of the solution? It has been my intention in writing this article to invite readers to make themselves part of the solution as well; by taking part in the public consultation. If you care at all about nature, please consider putting pen to paper. It is only by responding in sufficient numbers that we will be able to effect a change.

How to take part:

Write a letter expressing your opinions, solutions for the site addressed to the 'Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Lagoa'. This letter can either be sent by email: saou@cm-lagoa or it can be presented at the 'balcão único' on the ground floor of the main Câmara Municipal building in Lagoa. (It's necessary to include the number of an official document, e.g. cartão de residência, passport and your address.)

The closing date for submissions is (according to my calculations) Monday, 21 May, 2018.

The letters will be accepted both in Portuguese and in English according to the information desk at the Câmara.

By Martin Owen

http://www.parlamento.pt/ActividadeParlamentar/Paginas/IniciativasLegislativas.aspx

For further background information, see:

1. Save Alagoas Brancas campaigners claim the public consultation process is rigged ...: (News); According to Lagoa Council, the supermarket superpower Continente has no intention at all of backing down over its plans to build a new retail unit covering much of the Alagoas Brancas wetland site which ...; Created on 01 May 2018
2. Lagoa's wetland nature site subject to full government review ...: (News); The Save Alagoas Brancas protest group, that so stridently has stood up for nature in the face of more concrete and steel, is getting serious recognition with the government publishing news of what needs ...; Created on 12 April 2018
3. Lagoa wetland - Left Bloc move threatens supermarket plan: (News); The power of persistence is paying off as the Save Alagoas Brancas environmental group is to have its voice heard in parliament. Left Bloc MPs now are to demand that the government stops Continente ...; Created on 16 February 2018
4. MPs demand protection for Algarve wetlands - plus UPDATE: (News); ... of the Algarve, in particular with Lagos, Silves, Albufeira and Loulé councils. The most important sites requiring more protection are claimed to be Pául de Lagos, Alagoas Brancas in Lagoa, unde ...; Created on 01 February 2018
5. Lagoa's wetland "is in imminent danger of being totally destroyed" - Left Bloc supports protest group ...: (News); ... area, from which the city derived its name, "is in imminent danger of being totally destroyed." The draft resolution has been presented to parliament to safeguard the Alagoas Branncas zone, a wetla ...; Created on 05 January 2018
6. Lagoa wetland campaign group shafted by government's environmental institute: (News); Slamming the latest Institute of Nature and Forestry report on the Lagoa wetland as “inadequate and misleading," campaigner Anabela Blofeld, from the Alagoas Brancas Group, questions the use of Portugal' ...; Created on 27 October 2017
7. Wildlife solution: new Fatacil 'could incorporate the threatened Alagoas Brancas bird sanctuary' ...: (Environment); ... irony is that one already exists, right next door- Alagoas Brancas. If the new trees are to be, in the words of the president, 'the lungs' of Lagoa, what is to become of the Alagoas, 'the heart and sou ...; Created on 24 September 2017
8. Officials remain silent over 'Save the Lagoa wetlands' campaign: (News); At the beginning of 2017 the Alagoas Brancas wetland was turned upside down by bulldozers and lorries. The worked then stopped just as suddenly and the machines disappeared leaving behind an unsightly ...; Created on 21 August 2017
9. Lagoa's threatened wildlife wetland - building licence lasped 18 months ago ...: (News); Environmental association Almargem has delivered the strongest argument yet to the Algarve’s regional environmental water authorities to halt the burial of Lagoa’s ‘Lagoas Brancas’ wildlife haven under ...; Created on 21 February 2017
10. 'Save Lagoa's Lagoa' demonstration and the continuing silence from Continente ...: (News); Sunday’s demonstration to halt the building of a Continente supermarket, on the Lagoas Brancas wildlife wetland in Lagoa, was a noisy, well-mannered affair with a determined focus. Faced with continued ...; Created on 13 February 2017
11. Environment Agency halts groundworks at controversial Lagoa supermarket site: (News); ... the ancient Alagoas Brancas wetland area with earth and rubble. The APA inspection on February 7th concluded that the work being carried out exceeded the limit of the work set out in licence. This does ...; Created on 09 February 2017
12. Protest planned this Sunday for threatened Lagoa nature site: (News); ... at Alagoas Brancas as this natural area to the north of the Aldi and Apolonia stores is being covered in earth in preparation for the supermarket. It’s not just the ibis that is being displaced as th ...; Created on 08 February 2017
13. Council stays quiet over destruction of Lagoa wetland habitat: (Wildlife); ... supermarket. Thousands of Glossy ibis are being pushed from their winter habitat of Alagoas Brancas as the natural area to the north of the Aldi and Apolonia stores is being destroyed. It’s not just ...; Created on 20 January 2017