Benidorm will request its membership to the 'Network of Cities for Mobility with Low Emissions'

Benidorm City Council will approve in the next plenary session a proposal to request membership to the 'Cities Network for Low Emission Mobility, a request that will be addressed to the Governing Council of the Network.

The network is a forum made up of local entities, associations, companies and other groups whose purpose is to identify and promote solutions and strategies that reduce the emissions generated by mobility and their effects on citizens, promote the use of Low Emission Zones ( ZBE) in Spain, facilitate collaboration between cities for the aforementioned use and be a channel for obtaining the collaboration and help of other entities.

The mayor Toni Pérez has indicated in this regard that the commitment of Benidorm City Council for mobility and sustainability "is evidenced by the actions that have been carried out over the years in the city with the clear objective of improving the quality of life of our citizens”. To do this, the use of active mobility in the urban environment has been facilitated and made more attractive “with the creation of bike lanes, cycle paths or pedestrian itineraries.

"We are contributing to the provisions of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan to reduce private traffic by 35% and reduce polluting emissions and greenhouse gases", the mayor pointed out.

According to Toni Pérez, for the City Council, it is "a priority issue and an essential requirement" to continue working on sustainable mobility "to move towards this new city model that allows us to definitively respond to current challenges and those that will come in the future".

The idea is that the municipality can participate in the forum of the 'Network of Cities for Mobility with Low Emissions' "to take advantage of it and have access to opportunities for capacity development, guidance and support adapted to the needs of our town".

The mayor has registered in this sense that the City Council requested a subsidy of 3,170,250 euros from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to undertake the creation of Low Emission Zones and continue with the progressive process of making pedestrian streets and restriction of access to certain areas and streets.

In Benidorm, the Low Emissions Zone is divided into three subzones, such as Levante, the urban centre and Poniente. The objective, Pérez explained, is "to reduce the intensity of vehicles that circulate in these sections and improve environmental and pedestrian conditions."

"What we do is a friendly, comfortable city within the objectives of sustainability and at the same time be a model against climate change" he added.

The project, designed to obtain the subsidy, contemplates, among other actions, the creation of the ZBE of Benidorm, the elements associated with the implementation of the ZBE Benidorm, the adaptation and instrumentation of parking lots with guidance to the seat, the implementation of secure bicycle parking with improved signalling by 'metrobici' system or the management of loading and unloading areas in the ZBE. Toni Pérez has specified in this regard that "thanks to the policies in favour of active and sustainable mobility that we have been applying for years in Benidorm we have a long way to go".

The acquisition of electric buses, an electric bus recharging system in the park and ride of the Bus Station and the implementation of an open payment system and associated multiplatform for public transport and park and ride are also planned. In the case of municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, such as Benidorm, the law establishes the obligation to establish ZBE "no later than 2023".