OPEN LETTER FROM ORGANISATIONS GIVEN THE PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY OF THE SPECIAL URBAN PLAN OF SANTORINI ON THURSDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2024
PRESS RELEASE
In the aftermath of the workshop “Designing (on)the Boundaries of Small Islands ” held at the NTUA by the School of Architecture and the Chamber of Environment and Sustainability on Wednesday 6 November, we islanders feel that we are reunited as one big fragmented family with the sea between us.
We feel the need to support each other through difficulties and share the joys and thrills that our islands offer.
We also feel that key developments are underway and crucial decisions are being taken at this time for our lives and our land, in our absence. Unfortunately, all the islands of the country, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, the Sporades, the North Aegean, the Ionian and our large islands of Crete and Evia are being treated one-dimensionally as an investment area or as cash machines! This perspective is absolutely destructive and alien to islandhood. Our islands are sensitive places with unique ecosystems and cultural characteristics, where islanders have been living and creating for thousands of years.
Specifically for the presentation of the study of the Special Urban Plan of Santorini, which will take place on Thursday 14 November, our position is as follows:
We oppose the implementation of a special urban plan that sets two weights and measures! “Strategic investments” cannot possibly be worth more than the natural environment of this island and be excluded from the State’s planning. No ‘strategic investor’ can have a different building right or a different obligation to protect the environment that belongs to all of us equally, depending on the budgets in his pocket.
The reason why Santorini became a world tourist destination cannot be priced out and sold off to private interests that will permanently alter the special heritage of Santorini.
The irreparable alteration of the natural environment of Santorini – Thirassia and the rest of the Cyclades, combined with the general ‘developmental’ anarchy which the State itself is cultivating by leaving the services understaffed (e.g. there is only one engineer in the town planning department of Santorini, which also serves Ios, Folegandros, Thirassia, Sikinos, Anafi), selectively turning a blind eye to illegalities and favoured investors, looking at the future of tourism short-sightedly, allowing the destruction of the primary sector, disregarding the needs of the island for healthcare, disregarding culture, Sport and Education, disregarding even the children themselves, their extracurricular activities, the state of the school buildings or the accommodation of their doctors and teachers, all this is mathematically certain, as we see in many other cases of tourist destinations of our planet, that it will lead the island to recession and total destruction!
So, no more Pharaonic tourist units; this little place cannot take any more!
The family-run tourist business, the backbone of the economy of Santorini and the Cyclades, is under great pressure and in the future it may succumb or be replaced. This is being concealed from the islanders to whom the concepts of ‘investment’ and ‘development’ are being promoted in general and indefinitely.
No to the exemption of “strategic investments” from the rules of the Special Town Planning.
We demand the implementation of a special urban plan that respects Santorini and Thirassia’s cultural and environmental identities.
We demand the protection of agricultural land and the restriction of off-plan building while ensuring the economic viability of producers.
It is absolutely essential that areas of outstanding natural beauty be protected as they are threatened with extinction under the great tourist pressure.
We demand the protection of the landscape, biodiversity, land and sea fauna.
We demand a comprehensive plan that respects insularity, natural resources and the need for less energy-intensive structures.
EVERY STATE PLAN FROM NOW ON MUST FOCUS ON QUALITY OF LIFE, NATURE, PEOPLE AND THEIR NEEDS, NOT ON INVESTMENT, REVENUE AND PROFITS.
Co-signatories
Περιβαλλοντική Ομάδα Μαντιλίδα
Φωνή του Δάσους
Dive in Action
Θηραϊκή Θάλασσα
Save Ios
Network for Sustainable Cyclades
Friends of Paros & Antiparos
Ερευνητικό Κέντρο Άνδρου
Σύλλογος Προστασίας & Περίθαλψης Άγριων Ζώων «Αλκυόνη»
Σύλλογος Προστασίας Άγριας Ζωής Νάξου
Πολιτιστικός Σύλλογος Αρχίλοχος (Πάρος)
Σύλλογος Αμπασάδα (Τήνος)
Πολιτιστικός Σύλλογος Η Πάτμος των Χρωμάτων
Σύλλογος Προστασίας Περιβάλλοντος Πάτμου Ιππόκαμπος
Σύνδεσμος Σικινητών
Creative Milos
Σύλλογος Διεθνής Δράση για το Περιβάλλον και τον Πολιτισμό της Σαντορίνης
Ελληνική Εταιρεία Περιβάλλοντος και Πολιτισμού (ΕΛΛΕΤ Τ.Ε. Θήρας)
Πολιτιστικός και Εξωραϊστικός Σύλλογος Ημεροβιγλίου
Πολιτιστικός και Αναπτυξιακός Σύλλογος Οίας Θήρας Πολίτες της Οίας
Πολιτιστικός Σύλλογος Εστία Πύργου Καλλίστης
Θηραϊκή Εταιρεία Επιστημών Γραμμάτων και Τεχνών
Εργοστάσιο Τεχνών Σαντορίνης
Εθελοντική Ομάδα Σαντορίνης
Φωτογραφική Ομάδα Σαντορίνης
Ομάδα Γυναικών Σαντορίνης της Ο.Γ.Ε.
Σωματείο Ιδιοκτητών Τουριστικών Καταλυμάτων “Η Ατλαντίδα”
Σύλλογος Εργαζομένων ΟΤΑ Επαρχίας Θήρας
ΕΛΜΕ Θήρας
Ένωση Συλλόγων Γονέων & Κηδεμόνων Δήμου Θήρας
Κοινότητα Ημεροβιγλίου
Κοινότητα Καρτεράδου
Κοινότητα Έξω Γωνιάς
——
Recipients
Mayor of Santorini, Municipal Councillors, Community Presidents, Mayors of Cyclades, Samara Consulting Office, Region of the Aegean, Regional Councillors, Cycladic Parliamentarians, Ministry of Environment, Technical Chamber of Greece, Media
Attached (for information)*
(*) Τα Γ, Δ και Ε είναι προτάσεις της ΕΛΛΕΤ και των Μηχανικών Θήρας που έχουν ήδη κατατεθεί στη διαβούλευση για το ΕΠΣ και δεν σχετίζονται με την κοινή ανοικτή επιστολή των φορέων, απλά παρατίθενται για ενημερωτικούς λόγους.
Α) Τοποθετήσεις των Κυκλαδίτικων φορέων για τα νησιά τους (βίντεο)
Β) Την επίκαιρη επιστημονική ημερίδα “Σχεδιάζοντας (σ)τα όρια των μικρών νησιών”
Γ) Θέσεις της ΕΛΛΕΤ προς την διαβούλευση του Δήμου Θήρας για το υπό εκπόνηση Ειδικό Σχέδιο (ΕΠΣ)
Δ) Πίνακα Προτάσεων της ΕΛΛΕΤ για το ΕΠΣ Σαντορίνης
Ε) Προτάσεις του Συλλόγου Μηχανικών Θήρας στο πλαίσιο της διαβούλευσης για το ΕΠΣ Θήρας
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