Terrace space doubled to boost bar and restaurant trade under lockdown de-escalation on Spain’s Costa Almeria

BARS, cafes and restaurants in Adra have got the council’s go-ahead to double the area their terraces take up in public spaces to help boost trade under the coronavirus crisis lockdown escalation.
The province enters Phase one of the gradual easing of the lockdown restrictions next Monday May 11, which means establishments can open up their outside areas to customers, but they can be at no more than 50 per cent of capacity.
Adra mayor Manuel Cortes described the decision on the table and chair occupation space, which will apply until October, as “very important.”
“We want to ease the capacity limitations imposed on the hospitality sector in the de-escalation plan for May 11,” he commented.
Cortes also announced the local authority will extend the fiscal exemption on the payment of municipal taxes for terraces, tables and chairs occupying public spaces, again until October, but keeping an eye on how the Covid-19 pandemic evolves.
In order to make it as simple as possible for businesses to sign up to the terrace measure the council said it will streamline the administrative procedures, the requests requiring only the location of the establishment, the extension proposal and the owner’s or manager’s contact details.
The council’s Urban Planning department will then issue a report for each request, according to the characteristics of each establishment and that of the surroundings.
The local authority also reported it is currently immersed in finalising its municipal Economic and Social Reactivation Plan. The programme will feature a batch of initiatives for the short, medium and long-term aimed at addressing the economic hit from the coronavirus crisis.
A large part of the plan will centre on measures to support and promote small businesses, which have been particularly severely affected by the lockdown restrictions. The council maintained it was taking on board the positions of different sectors, with a view to putting on the table measures adapted to their needs for when the recovery of some sort of normality begins.