The proposal, presented by the councillors of the PS in the Faro Chamber to try to prevent the sale of the building - an intention already publicly expressed by the administration of RTP -, was approved in a chamber meeting on Monday.

The land in question, located in one of the main entrances of the city, was acquired by the municipality in 1949 and ceded to the State two years later, for the installation of the Southern Regional Broadcaster and the former Portuguese Broadcasting (RDP).

According to the PS, in 1985, by legal obligation, the RDP had to register the land it occupied and eventually did so with the total area of ??14,055 m2, by notary deed of adverse possession, when it "only corresponded" to 450 m2 for the implementation of the building, still existing today, and 1,095 m2 of antenna space, however deactivated.

According to the proposal approved at a town hall meeting, the property “has a relevant cultural value for the municipality, not only for its architectural characteristics, but also for having symbolic values ??that are reflected in the collective memory of the Algarve”.

The mayor of PS made in July, as a citizen, a participation in the Public Prosecution Service based on the existence of "serious evidence of the illegal appropriation of the property and the danger of its alienation to third parties".

With this participation, Paulo Neves intends that the Public Prosecution Service "can restore legal peace between the various interests present" and prove that the land "does not belong" to RTP, whose administration had already publicly revealed that it was considering its sale.

The PS "wants to know" what the mostly social-democratic city council has "done" about the complaint, "wondering" that the executive "has not joined the socialists" in defending what they consider to be "a public good".

According to the PS, in the country, there is only one other building with the same characteristics and features in Coimbra, having been “preserved by the local authority”.

The classification of the building as a city and Algarve heritage constitutes “an important step for the preservation of a property capable of hosting not only the state radio and television service,” but also the Lusa Agency, which currently operates in the journalists' house”.

According to Paulo Neves, despite safeguarding the building, the classification “does nothing” in relation to the remaining about 9,000 m2 of land, in which the camera has already stated that it authorized construction in “virtually every area”.

The socialist considers that, as it is a municipal land, it should be used for the construction of “social housing for young people, a green park or social equipment”.

The proposal now goes to the Municipal Assembly, and it is then up to the Directorate General of Culture to decree the classification of the building as a property of municipal public interest.

Contacted by the agency Lusa, a source of the mayor of Faro declined to comment on the approval of the proposal or the process underway in the Public Prosecution Service.