Madrid could be divided into a northwest and southeast axis, not only from a socioeconomic perspective (rich north versus poor south) but also because of its biodiversity. While the northernmost part of the capital is surrounded by large stands of trees such as El Pardo or Casa de Campo, in the east there are few forests and the land is more arid, which creates a vicious circle.
In the spring of 2021, the former deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís, “together with representatives of the Tolsa mine”, as explained in the City Council’s press release, visited the lagoons formed by the mining activity that took place between the neighborhood of Rosas and Coslada from 1977 to 2007. The purpose of this visit was to present the Metropolitan Forest within the urbanization project of the New Centralidad del Este.
The Nueva Centralidad del Este (NCE) is a new neighborhood planned in the south of the capital that will begin construction in March 2026 and will add 18,000 homes to the San Blas-Canillejas district. The NCE will occupy almost 6 million square meters between the M-40, the Atlético de Madrid stadium and the Lagunas de Ambroz. One of its axes will be a large technological campus with 800,000 square meters of surface area and 400,000 square meters of buildable area.
In the current situation of rising prices and scarcity of housing, with year-on-year rises of between 17% and 20% according to Idealista, new construction seems a logical consequence, or at least inevitable. But these urban development projects have an impact on the local nature. Although construction companies are obliged to measure such impact by law with a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) plan since 2013 and in the case of the NCE the Metropolitan Forest is part of the project from the beginning, according to experts and associations these wetlands are at serious risk.
The largest wetland in Madrid will be urbanized.
Las Lagunas de Ambroz had already been a question mark for years, a non-place where, in the face of man’s neglect, the fauna and flora has made its way, thus creating “the largest wetland of these characteristics in the capital” and making room for such endangered species as the runner toad(Epidalea calamita).
In March 2022, the Plenary of the Madrid City Council unanimously approved a proposal to take effective measures against the degradation of the area. These included the cleaning of the environment, since it is common to find debris and garbage from works that have not been properly managed; in addition to greater police presence; a barrier to limit access, because at least two people have died in the lagoons for various reasons and, finally, the creation of a Monitoring Commission, which should include “the entities that work for the protection of the environment”.
However, one of the most active groups and with a great social support, the Working Group to Save the Ambroz Lagoons and its Environment, has been completely excluded from all this. The association explains that “at no time has the Madrid City Council sat down with the working group to decide in a participatory manner the most appropriate future for this place. In fact, from the very first moment it has supported the urban planning project in which part of the route of the wrongly named Metropolitan Forest is integrated in this area”.
However, they do have the support of the neighborhood associations of the various affected neighborhoods of Coslada, Madrid and San Fernando de Henares, which have been involved in the alternative project that seeks to connect the Ambroz Lagoons with the Southeast Regional Park. This union would create a large forest in the area that they have wanted to call the Ambroz Field House. Their main argument is that “this space (creates) a multitude of synergies between the ecosystems that occur in them and in the surrounding semi-steppe zones, turning the areas where they meet into biodiversity hotspots”.
While the NCE defends and sells that their project would adapt to the environment and even use the lagoons as part of their advertising claim, the truth is that the landscape is already changing, partly because of the mining activity that has returned to take place in the vicinity and has made small lagoons disappear. This gives a preview of how fragile this oasis is and how the coming changes could affect it.
Faced with this “anachronistic” urban plan, as defined by Salvar las Lagunas de Ambroz, they propose its conservation, which “would put Madrid at the forefront of cities at European level and beyond, at the forefront of the construction of cities that are increasingly sustainable and respectful of the environment, without which we cannot exist”.