The Network for Sustainable Cyclades joins the Citizens’ Network of Ios, the Hellenic Society for Culture and Environment and other environmental organisations and Citizens’ Movements in the licensing of the Special Strategic Investment Spatial Development Plan (SSSDP) on a 566 strema property, in the location ‘Koumbara-Diakofto-Faros’, on the island of Ios, P.E. Thera, of the company ‘105 ANONYMOUS TOURISTIC AND TECHNICAL REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT’
According to the 2022 decision of the Council of State, the investment “constitutes an extensive intervention and especially residential activation in an area which is outside the plan, intact and undeveloped and constitutes a sensitive coastal ecosystem of a small island”, while it also notes that the “spatial planning report” of the investor does not replace the urban plan that is under preparation. Despite the reduction of the area to be built from the original plan, the case law of the STC remains strong and applicable to this investment proposal.
The Network for Sustainable Cyclades argues that the continuation of anarchic building, and even with large-scale investments such as this one and the corresponding investments by the same and other companies in the Cyclades, will lead to the definitive loss of the islands’ identity (morphology, scale, landscape) and the degradation of their common property, jeopardising their development to date.
Since its founding declaration, the Network for Sustainable Cyclades has insisted on the need to change and reverse the existing development model in favour of a new development model aimed at sustainability that includes not only an economy that continues to produce, but also a more just and cohesive society and a healthy environment. As regards tourism, which will always be an important part of the local economy, but not the only one, a model should be chosen whose standards take into account the scale of the islands, the resources available and the specificity of local communities. A model that offers wellbeing & wellness for visitors and residents through the promotion of local resources (experience tourism).
Based on the above, we urge regional councillors not to approve this investment proposal and to work with the local community, the business community, the university community and environmental organisations to co-create a new development model for our islands.
NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE CYCLADES
