“Those of us who live in the south have become accustomed to living among the garbage. They have turned us into the city’s dump without any mercy. For the mayor, we are second-class citizens, but we are not going to give up, because if there is something we have experience in, it is in fighting for just causes. This is how Andrés, a resident of El Espinillo, in Villaverde, describes what it means to live in a modest neighborhood of Madrid. Today, he takes to the streets to claim his right to live in peace, without pollution, without noise and without having to face the hostility of a city that is increasingly uninhabitable.
Andrés is just one of the thousands of people who marched through Usera and Villaverde today to protest the latest “punishment” that the City Council has inflicted on them: the installation of a crematorium just 200 meters from their home. It all began on August 23, when “in the middle of summer and without prior notice” the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, granted planning permission to the company Parcesa-Parques de la Paz to begin work on a crematorium next to the current M-40 funeral home.
The incinerator will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with all that this entails. “We are not going to tolerate it,” say the affected neighbors. With the construction of the crematorium, all the residential areas of the residents of the San Fermín neighborhood will be compromised. From going to the park to shopping. “Every day we wake up with new news, but it is never good,” says one of the protesting neighbors.
The construction of the crematorium is just the tip of the iceberg. The residents of Usera and Villaverde have been suffering for years from the “insolent management” of public institutions. “Let them take him to La Moreja or the Bernabéu,” says a neighbor.
What is clear is that the neighbors exploded. Their fed-upness pushed them to take to the streets, and not just anyhow. From the Villaverde crossroads to the funeral home, the streets overflowed. Pedestrians who were not aware of this call suddenly decided to unite and shout with them for a “greener and more livable” Madrid.
This is just the first step in a process that, according to them, will bring them “more than one headache.” Miguel, spokesman for the Neighborhood Association of the Villaverde Unit, emphasizes that they will go to the Administrative Litigation and present an optional appeal: “We do not intend to give in.”
Go ahead despite non-compliance with current regulations
The Madrid City Council has reiterated its intention to continue moving forward despite what the installation of this crematorium means for the lives of the residents. They are ensuring that everything is done in accordance with the law. “If we had not granted the authorization, the judge would have asked us for the names and surnames of the officials. These are the facts and the raw truth. The license is being paralyzed. But justice has ruled in their favor and we must comply with it,” explained the mayor a few days ago. However, the neighbors consider the Council’s position on the whole issue to be contradictory: “They are going against their own regulations.”
The installation of this crematorium had already been rejected three times, in 2002, 2015 and 2021. The last of them, already with José Luis Martínez-Almeida in Cibeles, considering that it was not viable due to not respecting the minimum distance of 250 meters from other uses required by article 52.3 of the Environmental Protection Ordinance of Madrid. Parcesa appealed the decision and the Supreme Court ordered the City Council to issue a new resolution. This happened because the court considered that the regulation was very old, so the City Council is obliged to issue a new resolution adequately justifying the refusal.
However, it should be remembered that the municipal regulation that establishes this distance is no longer old, since the City Hall itself updated it in March 2021 and establishes that crematoria must be installed “at a distance that is never less than 250 meters from homes or places where people usually stay.” “The crematorium clearly does not comply with all the rules,” explain the neighborhood spokespersons present at the demonstration.
The opposition is also mobilizing
Reyes Maroto, spokesman for the Municipal Socialist Group, marched alongside the affected residents, who announced today that they would present an appeal to reconsider the construction of the crematorium. “There is no justification for the crematorium to meet the technical requirements to avoid or reduce pollution and emissions, as required by the decision that the mayor is so appealing to,” Maroto added this morning in statements to the media.
The Socialists were joined by Más Madrid and Podemos, who have also launched actions to prevent the installation of the crematorium. Podemos MEP Isa Serra, together with Alianza Verde, has submitted a question to the European Commission to determine whether the incinerator at the M-40 funeral home violates the legislation because it is a project located less than 250 metres from residential buildings.
For her part, the spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, expressed her refusal to install the incinerator: “It is a pity that Almeida authorizes the works with formal apologies. The worst thing is that it always happens to them: the crematoria, landfills and waste factories are always built in the neighborhoods and villages of the south and east of Madrid, never where the leaders of the Popular Party live.
Rita Maestre, municipal spokesperson for Más Madrid, was also present at the demonstration, where she sent a strong message to the mayor: “It is categorically and radically false that the court has forced the issuance of another permit. It is false that the City Council should automatically grant an abnormal authorization. What we are experiencing is only the latest chapter in the pressure of a lobby very interested in business.”
