Tavira council decided in 2014 to designate certain areas of the city for urban renewal, a tactic that has paid off well, attracting private real estate investment in excess of €3 million at a cost to the council of well under €100,000.
The creation of an Urban Renewal Area in downtown Tavira allowed the council to obtain EU funds to repair parts of the historic center and as well as attract the private investment.
Mayor Jorge Botelho said that after the creation of the ARU in 2014, the council applied for EU funds of around €1 million to sort out the roads, church facades and to tart up the historic center.
Due to these changes, Botelho says the area has attracted private individuals who have bought property, €3 million in total.
"We made an assessment of the work needed in the early years for the ARU: €1 million of public investment, which was used to fix the streets and the squares, etc.," said the mayor, noting that "investment from the private sector was a big surprise because with incentives of around €70,000, "it was possible to attract about €3 million of investment."
Botelho said that Tavira has been painted, fixed up, the churches and museums attended to all of which has given a fresh look to the historic center."
The council also has been keeping its many churches all year as a way to attract more visitors and to help ensure Tavira is recognised for its cultural offering.
The mayor pointed out that people are buying in the city centre now that it looks smarter and that increasingly, there are fewer houses in the historic center that need fixing up and many others have been bought by private developers who have not started work yet.
Now that the centre is done, Botelho wants to extend the paint job to other areas of the city and see if private money again will follow.
Jorge Botelho said that the third phase of redevelopment will be along the riverfront to connect to the city center to the Quatro Águas area.
Comments
Currently you have the fuel in the area already , in open view at times , including in cars , next to stock piles of wood and charcoal. Not to mention aguardente and ammo.
You are right though that foriegn pensioners are the only ones moving in , younger nationals with no interest in faming have left long ago. Without tackling that then the land will contiue to suffer , without foriengers coming in to force clearing by the eco police there simply wouldnt be any as the land has lost titles and those wishing to pay for upkeep.
A think tank has already came up with the same conlclusions and has submitted their findings to Lisboa.
A recent mayor has been prosecuted for granting swimming pool licences in the hills. The problems of re-afforestation are complicated, and the fire risk in the hills needs to be controlled first. Fill local garages with flammable substances? In the fire of July 2012, buildings in this area were lost to the fire because of this stupidity.
There are not that many orange groves north of the 270, and I agree that they use water resources, but should we have golf courses instead? You can hardly blame the mayor because people in his county take advantage of EU funding.
Any type of economic activity will cause some disruption, and he should be encouraging richer, retired foreigners to build in abandoned rural areas; there are regulations which cover this activity.
If only he did something for the rural area , see the recent news that Portugal REN and Forest areas are becoming deserts for both living people and trees. This was a think tank review on how to save the rural community and trees , not developers.
If only he never rewarded the locals with free carob to replace natural forestry , in the sham belief that they would clear the land to prevent further fires.
If only he listened to the bomberios in that every house north of the 270 should have a pool , licenced through the bomberios and inspected once a year to provide fire proofing around property , or quick fills for firefighters , instead of preventing it.
If only he allowed Garages in rural areas to hold flammables , outwith premitted build limits.
If only he continued the water pipes , paid for already with EU grants for rural communities , instead of promoting Orange groves that are destroying coops by direct selling.
But yeah he takes credit for 3m of investment , to remove further parking , dunting the nail on the head of tourism in the process.
Please do not abandon what could be an area which could be a real asset to the town
The recuperation of city centre churches is a major bonus, and those who have not yet visited the rebuilt São Pedro Gonçalves Telmo should make it a priority.