Canillo Leader Defends New Urban Plan as Reversible Safeguard Against Post-Covid Construction Boom

Jordi Alcobé, Canillo's consell major, has defended the parish's new Pla d’Ordenació i Urbanisme Parroquial (POUP) as a prudent and reversible strategy to manage surging construction pressures, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

He positioned the plan as a safeguard against irreversible damage to the parish's landscape, image, and social cohesion. Alcobé stressed that the commune's approach—focused on protection, conservation, and rational growth—allows for future adjustments if needed, unlike unchecked development. "If we overbrake somewhere, that decision can be corrected in the future. But allowing intensive development now would mortgage the parish for generations," he said.

Alcobé cautioned against free-market demands that could bring buildings or apartment blocks to vulnerable spots like Cap del Forn, Mereig, and Montaup. He described the POUP as a precautionary measure in a real estate market that has shifted dramatically over five years. "The pre-Covid and post-Covid eras are completely different," he noted, with property pressures rising sharply. Urban planning, he argued, must remain responsive and adaptable. "It's not about braking for the sake of it, but acting with precaution in a context that has changed radically."

To illustrate reversal challenges, he cited an unfinished building in Vall d’Incles that took 37 years to demolish. "Imagine tearing down an inhabited building," he said, highlighting the social and economic costs involved. He questioned the feasibility of future high-rises near the Palau de Gel or on recently completed communal fields in central Canillo, asking who would have the resolve to remove them later.

The consell major endorsed limits like the planned Incles boundary to keep options open. High-rises akin to those in Escaldes, he maintained, suit only Andorra la Vella's centre. "In ten years, my children and my neighbours' children will live with it forever," he concluded, favouring caution today to allow corrections tomorrow.