After nearly two years of suspension, the municipality of Ribes de Freser will resume processing licenses for tourist use housing. The decision, approved by the municipal council, is based on a special plan that regulates the activity by sectors, establishing maximum limits according to the population and urban characteristics of each area.
This new framework will allow the granting of new authorizations in areas where the established cap has not yet been reached. However, in the historic center, the issuance of new licenses will remain suspended for the time being, with a waiting list to be created for future authorizations that will only be granted if existing ones become vacant.
The proposal, which had been previously approved, required a new vote to achieve the necessary absolute majority, coinciding with the swearing-in of Berta Yuste as a councilor for the governing team.
The mayor, Mònica Sanjaume, defended the measure as a tool to balance housing access and tourist activity, recalling that Ribes de Freser was a pioneer in the region for implementing similar limitations.
The decision was not unanimous. The CUP abstained, considering the regulation a positive but insufficient step, as it does not include other accommodation formulas such as rural houses. For their part, Tots Fem Ribes voted against it, arguing that the regulation should be accompanied by policies to increase the residential housing stock and that tourist uses contribute to the housing shortage for residents.
In the same plenary session, the definitive transfer of the old municipal slaughterhouse to the Generalitat de Catalunya was approved to be used as the volunteer fire station for Ribes de Freser, with a duration of thirty years. This transfer did not have the support of the Esquerra group.
