The new Special Education school that the Community of Madrid plans to build in Móstoles will be located in a 8,400 square meter plot on Iker Casillas Avenue, in front of Finca Liana Park and next to a controversial new gas station currently under construction.
This was confirmed by the Councilor of Education and Festivities, Cristina Molina, after ruling out the possibility of the new Special Education school being located in an alternative space, as «the procedures for the transfer of that plot to the Community have already been initiated», which was the entity that selected it due to its characteristics.
«This is the chosen one by the Community of Madrid out of the three that were offered,» Molina insisted, explaining that the chosen plot, over 8,000 square meters, «meets all the essential requirements required for students with special characteristics.»
Controversy over the construction of the gas station in El Soto de Móstoles begins
In this sense, she explained that the plot «is located at one of the city’s entrances, facilitating access» from other cities, in addition to being «close to health centers such as the Hospital and the Soto health center,» something «essential given the type of students in these centers.»
This confirmation comes after Más Madrid requested a few weeks ago to find «another plot that could be transferred to the Community of Madrid to carry out this center» and thus avoid the new school being located in the plot adjacent to the new gas station being built in the neighborhood.
The issue with the mentioned land is that it is less than 20 meters from where the construction of a new gas station has already begun, in the urban area, right in front of Finca Liana Park, at the intersection of Iker Casillas Avenue and Benito Pérez Galdós Street, which has been surrounded by controversy for years.
Controversy over a gas station 30 meters from homes in Móstoles
Despite strong opposition from the neighborhood residents and the previous municipal government, formed by PP and Vox, making a last desperate attempt several months ago to stop the new gas station, the project has continued and is now under construction.
It was the previous local government, of PSOE and Podemos, that modified the regulations in May 2021 to allow gas stations in Móstoles to be less than 20 meters from homes.
Thanks to that modification, the City Council now faces the issue on the plot adjacent to the gas station, owned by the municipality.
«IT’S TOO LATE»
Molina emphasized that it’s too late to prevent the proximity of the gas station in the adjacent plot and that «the necessary measures should have been taken earlier to stop the modification of the distance allowed to neighboring homes, from 50 to 20 meters, and thus the infamous gas station would not have been built.»
«We cannot now allow that due to this irreversible mismanagement, that plot cannot be utilized and the people of Móstoles cannot have a new Special Education school,» she reiterated, pointing out that there are already «other gas stations near homes, factories, and even other schools built years ago.»
Finally, she defended the construction of a new Special Education school in Móstoles as «good news in itself, as it will allow students with special educational needs to be served without having to leave their city.»
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