Valdepeñas competes for European FEDER funds with four major projects framed within the ‘Valdepeñas urban rebirth’ plan, totaling €15,000,000 in various initiatives to improve the city’s urban environment.
The proposals, submitted to the Local Integrated Development Strategy (EDIL), include hydraulic conditioning and renaturalization of the Cañada Romero stream, physical, economic, and social regeneration in a new section of the Canal de la Veguilla boulevard, the rehabilitation of the Casa de los Vasco, and a smart city digital project.
Government spokesperson Francisco Delgado, along with Economic Promotion councilor Julia Cejudo, has detailed the projects that have been agreed upon with different groups and citizen proposals, based ultimately on the key objectives of this call that values green, social, digital, and cultural initiatives. A resolution is expected by September, and if eligible, the projects must be completed by 2029.
«We have been working on this Action Plan since 2023 because to apply for this grant, we had to develop Valdepeñas’ Local Urban Agenda, which includes a new, comprehensive, and up-to-date city diagnosis, identifying infrastructure and service needs,» explained Cejudo. She pointed out that the budget is three times higher than what the council presented in the 2019-2023 call, which allowed for covering the Canal de la Veguilla from Calle Seis de Junio to Calle Norte, the hostel at the Archaeological Park of Cerro de las Cabezas, the replacement of energy-efficient lighting and boilers in public buildings, among other actions.
Safety and Accessibility
Therefore, she specified that among the projects competing in this call is the hydraulic conditioning and renaturalization of the Cañada Romero stream with a €6,500,000 investment. «The goal is to improve the channel that runs through the urban area, between Avenida del Vino and Calle Ciudad Real, acting in the area between Avenida Estudiantes and Avenida del Vino,» explained Cejudo. To achieve this, «more green areas will be created to offer citizens new leisure and recreational areas, as well as capturing and draining rainwater and surface flows in the northern area, thus reducing the risk of flooding in this area and strengthening the capacity of our sanitation network, incorporating its urbanization, smart pedestrian crossings, and water level alarms and signaling.»
She detailed that the project includes three phases: the renaturalization of the stream and its subsequent reforestation with riparian species in the section between Calle Toledo and Calle Salida del Peral, the collection of rainwater generated in the urban basin, as well as the creation of a rainwater drainage network, and finally the creation of a recreational space, green areas, and connectivity through the urbanization and environmental conditioning of the Ronda Norte, smart pedestrian crossings, and a water level alarm and signaling system.
On the other hand, with €2,550,000, the physical, economic, and social regeneration in the Canal de la Veguilla boulevard section between Calle Norte and Calle Quito is considered. Julia Cejudo indicated that «new green areas will be generated, the flow evacuation capacity in this section will be increased, architectural barriers will be eliminated, improving accessibility in the area, eliminating the current barrier effect.» Additionally, she added that «this project includes a digital component, which will provide the area with smart pedestrian crossings and create a water level alarm and signaling system, and also includes a socio-labor training program.»
The third project is the rehabilitation of the Casa de los Vasco, with a budget of €5,350,000. It involves the recovery of the historic building located on Calle Real, corner of Calle Cervantes, dating back to the 16th century, to recover this part of the local historical heritage and provide new resources for Valdepeñas’ tourism development. It includes three actions: a green area in the gardens, making the caves visitable, and recovering the building to house an archaeological museum showing the material extracted in the last four decades from the Cerro de las Cabezas Archaeological Park, incorporating a training classroom.
Finally, the fourth project, of a digital nature, is called Smart City and has a budget of €600,000. Cejudo indicated that the initiative includes an open data portal and incident management on the Internet, new traffic and security control cameras, smart pedestrian crossings, and digital training actions.