Today, the Sintra executive approved a proposal from the municipality's president, Basílio Horta (PS), to submit to the Sintra Municipal Assembly the "declaration of relevant municipal public interest" for the "installation of a car park and public facilities on land" in Ramalhão and to request "authorisation for non-agricultural use of an area integrated into the RAN".

The proposal provides for a car park, a reception area and an educational farm, in addition to public facilities, on 71,129 square metres (m2).

The request for a declaration of relevant municipal public interest aims to overcome an opinion issued by the Regional Entity of the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo Agricultural Reserve on 6 May, confirming that the local authority's intention "totally affects areas of the National Agricultural Reserve".

"It is noted that the project in question involves actions that do not fit into any of the exceptions for non-agricultural use of land in the RAN identified" in the legal diploma that establishes the legal regime of the RAN, the entity considered.

However, the regional entity itself added that "the intended non-agricultural use of RAN land may eventually be viable in the context of a request to the relevant authority for recognition of the project's relevant public interest", under the terms of the same diploma.

According to a municipal report, the local authority found that the land has "construction capacity", in an urban area classified in the Municipal Master Plan (PDM) as "area for facilities and infrastructure", but has constraints resulting from the National Ecological Reserve (REN) and the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, easements and restrictions on public utility due to prison establishments and agricultural and forestry resources of the RAN.

Thus, the local authority requested authorisation to intervene in 18,627.60 m2, "on land belonging to the RAN", within the scope of the preliminary study of the Ramalhão park, for 586 spaces, divided into 569 light vehicles, five for reduced mobility, 10 tourist buses and two for public and tourist transport.

The pavement areas included 2,599.16 m2 of impermeable surface and 15,951.81 m2 of permeable surface, with 114 trees, a kiosk and sanitary facilities (76.63 m2) also planned. The platform will have two access points between the existing roundabouts of the volunteer firefighters, near Ramalhão (exit) and Beloura, next to Horto do Campo Grande (entrance), on the National Road (EN) 9.

The area for buses will have a bituminous pavement and the area for light vehicles will have "coloured permeable concrete pavement" in light tones, with its expansion being allowed after an environmental impact study.

The Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, despite the Natura 2000 Network, considered that "in the project area there are no mapped 'habitats' or species of flora and fauna listed in the Habitats Directive" and, not foreseeing "negative impacts" on natural values, "there is nothing to prevent the proposal".

The Lisbon and Vale do Tejo Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries, consulted on the project for Quinta do Bom Despacho, referred to the opinion of the Regional Entity of the Agricultural Reserve.

The proposal to be submitted to the municipal assembly states that "the municipality does not have other properties located outside the RAN (rustic, mixed or urban) where it can implement" the project, and that "the request made cannot be adequately carried out in areas not integrated into the RAN".

In this sense, in addition to the car park, changed to 1.94 hectares (ha), the local authority also plans a reception area and an educational farm, on 2.7 ha, with 66 more spaces for light vehicles, intended for "promoting organic farming, and safeguarding the memory of the space, the landscape enhancement and sustainable intervention in the territory".

The new project, with phased implementation, is estimated at 3.9 million euros, not including the public facilities to be defined in 1.6 ha, of which 1.9 million for the car park and two million for the reception area and educational farm.

At the executive meeting, the Social Democratic councillor Luís Patrício recalled that the PSD's programme included "peripheral parks", as part of "a more global strategy for the historic centre", and that parking for only 10 buses "seems clearly insufficient".

Councillor Maurício Rodrigues (CDS-PP) pointed out the need to increase the number of buses -- "at least 40" -- and for reduced mobility, as well as advocating the installation of electric charging points and an entrance and exit at the firefighters' roundabout.

The mayor of the local authority replied that this moment in the process "is the beginning of the work, not the end" and that the remaining 50,000 m2 will be added to the 20,000 m2 at a later stage, in order to proceed with the park without the obligation of an environmental assessment.

Councillor Pedro Ventura (CDU) considered that the most important thing "is to declare the municipal interest" and that "the relevant authority understands that this park is essential for Sintra", since it will complement another for tourist buses between Quinta do Ramalhão and the Volunteer Firefighters of S. Pedro.

The president of the Sintra Municipal Parking Company (EMES) also explained that the park will "be articulated" with the tourist transport of the new concessionaire, which "will collect tourists and transport them to the historic centre and to the monuments of Sintra", admitting that the project could accommodate the suggestions of the councillors.

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