The promised discussion on the the future of Tapada das Necessidades can now begin. The Lisbon City Council has completed and put out for public consultation, until July 1st, the first version of what it calls the Tapada das Necessidades Safeguarding Plan.
In this provisional plan, the aim is to "description, analysis and diagnosis of the specific features, constraints and various valences of this historic garden in Lisbon, with a view to drawing up a strategy to guarantee its recovery, conservation, global requalification and long-term maintenance". If the municipality's plans are upheld, the redevelopment will involve, on the one hand, infrastructure work to be carried out by the council and, on the other hand, fundamental work and the reconstruction of some of the buildings to be carried out by Banana Café Emporium, the company that was awarded the concession for part of the garden by public tender. At stake is the creation of new social and cultural facilities, including a restaurant. A petition of Friends of Tapada das Necessidades, which at the end of March had gathered 8,000 signatures, now has almost 12,000.
Meanwhile, new controversy: o Público newspaper reports this week that the councillor for Green Structure, José Sá Fernandes, asked a municipal director, who reports to him, to revise an opinion that made it impossible to approve the controversial works planned for the Tapada. The director accepted the request and wrote a new opinion, this time favorable. Sá Fernandes denies pressuring the municipal director.
Back to the Tapada das Necessidades Safeguarding Plan. When it is finalized, after this public consultation process, it should include an archaeological, historical, architectural, sociological and economic analysis of the garden with a view to drawing up future plans for what can and cannot be done in that space. According to the Lisbon City CouncilThe need to carry out this plan is the result of two opinions from the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) and the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-LVT).
You can consult the first version of the Tapada das Necessidades Safeguarding Plan at realized on this page or down here. The municipality has made the following address available dmaevce.gpev@cm-lisboa.pt to canvass the population until July 1st.
