Discussion to reopen on Urban Operations Regulation
CORFU. The Urban Operations Regulation may have been approved in 2016, but the municipality believes that the discussion can continue.
The once pleasant-sounding but often obscure acronyms of studies and plans for the functioning of the town come and go in public debate, but are never actually implemented. This time it concerns the town's Urban Operations Regulation, which the municipal authority is once again putting up for consultation.
Its first version was approved in 2016 by the Central Archaeological Council and published in the Government Gazette, making Corfu the first Greek town with a comprehensive regulatory framework for its historic centre. The Regulation set out in detail rules for the placement of outdoor seating, the use of awnings and canopies, signage and advertising, as well as for the restoration of building façades and the undergrounding of cables.
However, the Regulation remained on paper. For nine years—almost twenty since the town’s inclusion in the list of World Heritage monuments—it has proven impossible to bring everyday life into a stable and agreed framework.
The lack of enforcement mechanisms, the reactions of businesses, and the political cost left the Regulation in the drawer.
The Municipality of Central Corfu is now bringing the issue back to public consultation, at the end of this year’s tourist season, which also went by in the usual way. Barely four years after the previous consultation (2021), it invokes the need for the Regulation to be adapted to current conditions. The aim is to gather and clarify existing legislation, incorporate more realistic provisions, and ensure social consensus. The Special Urban Planning Study for the Old Town is expected to provide additional institutional support.
From 2016 to today, Corfu continues to search for a way to implement a Regulation that is both effective and socially acceptable.
GIORGOS KATSAITIS
