III Meeting on Environment and Quality of Life

On 22 June, the III Meeting on the Environment and Quality of Life was held, at which civic associations and movements, NGOs and residents' associations in the municipality of Cascais discussed the theme of ‘Citizenship and Transparency’, highlighting the democratic deficit in the relationship between residents and the executive, particularly with regard to the fate of spaces of great importance to the population and the undignified way in which residents are treated in municipal assemblies - destroying the trust that should exist between the administration and the citizens - to which is added a gap: the non-existence of a structure for the supervision/defence of the citizen vis-à-vis the municipality.

The meeting approved a plan of action and dissemination of the Manifesto approved at the II Meeting, in defence of the quality of life of the people and the cultural and natural heritage of the municipality, against the de-characterisation of the villages, caused by Cascais City Council, with excessive urban construction, putting pressure on the inefficient public transport network, poor road infrastructures and causing the continuous worsening of coastal erosion.

The novelty of this III Meeting, in this year of municipal elections, is an action plan that includes publicising the Manifestos of these Meetings; requesting meetings with the candidates for the next municipal elections, the parliamentary groups and committees in the Assembly of the Republic and the sovereign bodies; and even a possible debate between the candidates for the Cascais municipal elections.

This action plan will be implemented next month and in the few remaining months until the start of the election campaign, to try to reverse the process of destroying Cascais.

The III Meeting was attended by: Associação de Defesa de Aldeia de Juso (ADAJ), Associação de Moradores da Areia (AMA), Associação de Moradores do Pinhal de Santa Maria, Associação de Moradores e Amigos de Cabeço de Mouro, Associação de Proprietários do Bairro Monte Trigo, Associação dos Amigos do Parque das Gerações, Associação Respirar Cascais, Forum por Carcavelos, Grupo Areia Guincho, Grupo Contra o Alargimento do Aeródromo de Tires, Grupo Ecológico de Cascais (ONGA), Sociedade Recreativa Outeirense, SOS Quinta dos Ingleses (ONGA), and also, as observers, the Grupo Recreativo e Cultural ‘Os Amigos do Alto do Mocho’ (GRECAA), as well as EcoMood Portugal and the ONGA Quercus ANCN.