Benidorm Council on Spain’s Costa Blanca reaches out to bars and restaurants to help kick-start phase one of de-escalation

Costa Blanca’s Benidorm Council has offered to help kick start phase one of Spain’s de-escalation.

THE local authority has offered to work with the hospitality sector in planning their terraces after the Spanish government announced bars, restaurants and cafes can initially only serve 30 per cent of their outside capacity.

The council is also offering a free disinfection of accesses, terraces and facades for those who want to open their doors.

Mayor, Toni Pérez, has contacted employers within the sector, ABRECA, explaining “we want to facilitate the return to activity to those establishments that decide to reopen their doors in that first phase, making the layout of the terraces more flexible and guaranteeing at the same time that this distribution complies with the safety distances indicated by the health authorities.”

He is asking those establishments who want to take advantage of this first phase of de-escalation to send their proposals to Benidorm Council.

This should be “a proposal for the arrangement of tables and chairs on their terraces based on the permitted capacity,” said Pérez.

The plans will then be studied by a council technical team, and also discussed with relevant neighbourhood associations, “to ensure there are future disagreements if changes need to be made to outside spaces.”

Pérez said “we are facing an exceptional situation that requires extraordinary measures and above all collaboration between all the parties involved.”

He pointed out it is not about simply placing the “municipal ordinance on the occupation of tables and chairs,” but instead looking for temporary solutions that “allow businesses to get the most out of the area they are allowed to use, in an orderly way and without causing harm to third parties.”

Bars, restaurants and cafes can email their proposal to: terrazascomercio@benidorm.org, once the the government confirms all details, measures and conditions, or call the Collective Help Network (#RAC) on 900 701 322 and 900 10 12 15.

In addition, the mayor explained that, in order to reinforce preventive measures and sanitary security, the council will offer businesses that reopen a free disinfection service for accesses, terraces and facades.

This service has been available since the beginning of April, and is provided upon request and must be booked in advance.

The disinfection is carried out by four teams twice a day. To request the service, email: fcbenidorm@gmail.com or cleaningviaria@benidorm.org or call the above helplines.