Last spring, the tool for consulting urban planning files (Conex), launched by the Madrid City Council in 2020, stopped working in its most important part: the download of all the authorizations and resolutions issued by the city council, documents widely used by neighbors and professionals. and associations to be able to know what is happening at the urban planning level in a certain building.
The closure came shortly after Ayuso’s partner, Alberto González Amador, denounced the Madrid City Council for the leak of data on illegal works in his apartment in Chamberí, the resolution of which is not yet known. The existence of his documents in Conex was essential to know that he had carried out these works without authorization from the municipality, which is why he had to start a legalization process, which will probably end with the payment of a fine for violating the regulations.
Months after these events, the urban transparency tool still does not allow the downloading of documents. The Deputy City Council, responsible for its operation through the Activities Agency, assures that it will reopen “as soon as possible” but does not give a specific date. In addition, it explains that it prevents the downloading of documents after a report from the data protection office of the Madrid City Council itself.
The report, which has not been made public, assures that Conex contains certain information “that does not comply with the data protection regulations (…) and that constitutes a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals”, indicates the City Council. For this reason, it recommended to “proceed with the elimination of all documents and plans containing personal data from Conex” or “in the event of keeping this documentation, to carry out the anonymity of this, in order to prevent the identification of the persons concerned.
The same municipal sources explain that the Activities Agency is holding meetings with the Autonomous Informatics Body of the Madrid City Council to anonymize the data contained in Conex and thus not show protected personal data. “The application file will be opened as soon as possible,” adds the council.
The veto on uploading documents to Conex is part of the disappearance of some data that were previously open, as well as figures on mobility in the buses of the Municipal Transport Company or the number of trips and bicycles available from Bicimad. The website that listed all the street trees in the capital has also disappeared.
