The motion presented by the socialist councilor Elena Mateo, so that Santa Cruz enables a network of shelters against the heat, obtained the unanimous support of the Plenary. In this way, the City Council is committed to establishing shelters for the heat in the city, to which is added the establishment of new shaded areas in public spaces, as the Consistory has been doing until now, according to the mayor of Public Services, Carlos Tarife.
The third point of the agreement is the creation of shaded itineraries, and the installation of new public fountains, with the availability of drinking water. Finally, it was approved to carry out a dissemination campaign with all the measures adopted in this regard.
In the statement of reasons for the motion, the PSOE recalls that it is expected that, due to the effects of the climate crisis, heat waves will become more frequent and intense; currently there is a heat wave every four years on average, and the forecast is that, in the best of cases, that frequency will be multiplied by 8 and, in the worst, up to 16.
A network that would be made up of places such as libraries, schoolyards, sports facilities, municipal offices, in which “climate shelters” could be set up.
