DRAFT LAW NO. 695 /X/4ª

ELEVATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF CAMBRA COUPLE, IN THE COUNTY

FROM SINTRA, TO THE CATEGORY OF VILLAGE

Exhibition of reasons

I. Of The Historical-Geographic Framework Couple of Cambra is a hamlet situated in the county of Sintra, registered office of the Freguesia of the same name, which was created by Law No. 35/97, published in the Journal of the Republic, I Series-A, para. 159, of July 12, 1997. It is bordered to the north by the freguesia of Caneples (concelain of Odivelas) and by the freguesia of Almargin of the Bishop (concelho de Sintra), the spring born by the freguesias of Caneples and of Famons (also in the county of Odivelas), the South by the freguesia of S. Brás (Amadora's concelain), and the potent by the Belas freguesia (Sintra's concelho). Occupying an area of 2.40 Km², Cambra Casal is an eminently urban freguesia and comprised of four contiguous neighborhoods, namely: Neighborhood of the Casal of Cambra, Neighborhood of the Serra da Helena, Neighborhood of Santa Marta and a part of the Neighborhood of the Olival Santissima. The remote origin of human occupation in these stops can, with some security, be situated in a final eneolithic or calcolitic, as the existence of the Anta of the Highstones and the Bishop's Cabin, even at the limits of the freguesia, attests to the presence of human communities in the vicinity that, as is known, sought high points of easy surveillance and where they could at the same time practise essential agriculture to their livelihoods. At a later stage, as early as the fifteenth century, some news stories appear about the " Camera Place " in a Letter of Donation washed away by Dona Brites, mother of el-King D. Manuel to one such Rodrigo Afonso de Atoutab, on August 13, 1490. It dates back, however, only to the sixteenth century, the first news that, with some certainty, allows us to assert of an actual occupation of these lands in the Modern Age. In fact, there is a record of baptism in the Church of Belas that gives

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account that on the March 12, 1567, it was there baptized an individuo born in the " Camera Place ", on par with other seats, of marriage and demise, which refer to individuals residents in the same place. However, the rarity of documents makes it difficult to determine, accurately, the first moments of the occupation of the space that is today the Cambra Casal Freguesia. Already in the XVII century, it comes to be erected in the " Couples of Camera " an ermida, evocative of Santa Marta, existing even a document that states that the settlement had at the time seven couples and an ermida with the name of Santa Marta. The current designation, " Couple of Cambra ", it is known, it appears for the first time in the thirties of the twentieth century, in a request to the Municipality, of a licence

for a speedster. Finally, the great occupation begins in the sixties of the twentieth century, with the lotement in " Quintines " of five, eight and ten thousand square metres, on the part of the then its owner, Mr. António Baptista Mota, natural from the Villa of Alcanena. Situated at the doors of Lisbon, the scarce five kilometres of the Ponhad, quickly the batches were sold, subsequent to be made subdivisions of the same in plots, far smaller, which were acquired by dozens, or even hundreds, of small landlords who have started to edit their dwellings, quickly giving rise to what, it was already considered, " the largest clandestine neighborhood in Europe ". In orographic terms, Casal de Cambra occupies, so to speak, a small spare plateau to Lisbon, bordered on the North and the nascent by two hills connected with each other which in turn delimit the valley of Caneples. With the geometric shape of a square, it was torn when carrying out the initial loadings, and even subsequently, by washer in reticulated form, which gives it an aspect similar to that of the Lower Pombalina or that of the, equally Pombalina, Royal Village of Santo António. Such a circumstance came, in a lot, to facilitate the further urbanistic requalification of the locality, having made it possible for the current existence of an urban mesh with plenty of coherence, when compared to other sites,

similarly of clandestine origin. From the seventies and eighties of the last century, there has been the great development of construction, also giving start to an urban requalification and infrastructural programme, the responsibility of the Municipal Chamber of Sintra, with the comparticipation of the owners. The predominant architecture is, still today, that of small uni-family housing, with one or two floors, sometimes with a shop underneath and a small backyard, although from a certain height they have begun to emerge constructions of collective housing, already duly licensed by the Municipal Chamber of Sintra.

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Of emphasising, still, the existence of a cooperative construction zone and another of social housing, edited under the Special Rehousing Program. Couple of Cambra currently boasts a more modernised housing stock and with quality construction, fruit of its proximity to Lisbon and due to the easy acessivities.

II. From Heraltip The Cambra Casal Freguesia has adopted the following heraldic ordination of the crest and flag, as Edital published in the Journal of the Republic, III Series, No. 188, of 08/17/1998:

Crest: green shield, a gold quadruped dragon, armed and lampooned from red, passer over an aqueduct of five movable silver arches from the flanks; in chief, a crescent of silver, containing among the tips a star of the same; in tip, mó de gold mill. Silver mural wreath of three towers. Listel white, with caption to black: "COUPLE OF CAMBRA". Flag: yellow. Cordon and borlas of gold and green. Shaft and spear of gold. The gold quadruplete dragon is the heraldic symbol of Santa Marta, the local patron. The aqueduct of five arches symbolises the Aqueduct of the Free Waters, in a representation of the much water existing in the locality. The crescent and the five-pointed star, both of silver côr, are present in the coat of arms of the Villa of Sintra and represent the ancient lords of the village, the Moors, which Dom Afonso Henriques won. The mill mó symbolizes the bread lands that, since antiquity, have been the Casal of Cambra. The colors that dominate-the gold and the green-intend to symbolize the golden spies and hope.

III. Of Cultural Heritage and other Locations of Interest In terms of historical-cultural heritage, it stands out, in Casal de Cambra, the Capela (or Ermida) of Santa Marta, symbol of the devotion of its populations, which was erected in the early seventeenth century. Situated on the urban perimeter of the neighbourhood, this ermida will have been built in a narrow symbolic connection to the salutary waters that exist in the area, coming these " holy waters " to be designated by the name of the patron saint, Santa Marta. In the nineteenth century, the Ermida de Santa Marta was used as a dwelling, being destroyed by a fire and remaining in ruins until our days. The building that today exists on the site results from a process of recovery, brought to effect by the City Hall, in the late nineties of the twentieth century, which while respecting the original moth, introduced some innovations, specifically, a sacristia prolife of campanarium and a new altar, compatible with the norms imposed by the Vatican II Concile. It stands out, still, in Casal of Cambra, the ruins of the thermal building of the Fifth of the Railway Waters, of the end of the séc. XIX, an ancient seaside resort that was

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famous for the characteristic of its waters ( Agoas Medecinaes de Casaes ), for which there is a reclamation project, and the ruins of the Wind of Wind of the Old Head of the Old, in addition to a trolle and several breaths of the captions of the Aqueduct of the Free Water, a monumental work, built in the reign of D. João V (the alvshall régio that determined its construction dates back to 1731), with the purpose of supplying the city of Lisbon. Although of recent construction, they are also to mention the building-headquarters of the Junta de Freguesia (socio-cultural space, which was reborn from the social building built on the initiative of the residents of the neighborhood, in the early eighties of the twentieth century), the Center Community and the Paroquial Church of Santa Marta.

IV. Of Demographic Characterization

It is unknown the previous number of inhabitants, with the 1991 Census being the first that provides us with data, more or less reliable, on the settlement of Cambra Couple. It was then pointed out, then, for the existence of 6,756 residents, with that, in the data collected in the 2001 Census, 9,865 inhabitants are already referred to. Such figures allow us to admit that the present data point to the 11,000 or 12,000 inhabitants, not least if we take into account the numbers of those enrolled in the Health Centre (which already surpass 15,000), with 8,680 being the current number of voters. In sociological terms, Cambra Casal is characterised by being a settlement made up of heterogeneity, concerning the origins of the national population, and still a large component of immigration, coming essentially from the African Countries of Official Language Portuguese and Brazil, in addition to a significant community originating in the eastern European countries. It is largely of a middle class, with reasonable purchasing power and good entrepreneurial ability and, yet, of a large salaried mass, with fewer resources and with some " islands " of weak resources.

V. Of Collective Equipment With respect to the requirements required by Article 12 of Law No. 11/82 of June 2, Cambra Casal complies fully with, pore, in the area of

collective equipment, has an extension of the Queluz Health Centre in a building of its own, a pharmacy, a socio-cultural centre (building-seat of the Junta de Freguesia), with an auditorium with capacity for 150 people, public transport, post post offices, commercial establishments, a school of the 2º and 3º cycles of the basic education, two schools of the 1º cycle of basic education and three bank branches. It has, still, two kindergartens from the official network, a municipal market, a territorial precinct of the Public Security Police, as well as a Community Centre with diverse valences (nursery, daycare, nursery, ATL, Day Centre and the Convivid, home support) and a Paroquial Social Centre.

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In addition to this, in Cambra Casal there is an Urban Park, which includes an eleven (official measures) football field, a discovered ring, two children's parks and leisure zone with artificial lagoon. A municipal gimnosport pavilion is also already completed, with capacity for 600 spectators, which is in the installation phase of the respective furnishings and sports equipment.

VI. Of Economic Activities Coexist, in Casal of Cambra, the most diverse economic activities, not only those normally necessary to the satisfaction of local needs, but also, and with plenty of expression, activities that, here based, produce

for the regional, national and even international market. Not being an industrial locality, it nevertheless possesses some small and medium-sized enterprises, in the sector of manufacturing industries, which provide some employability and have created conditions for Casal of Cambra to have been, since always, not only a dormitory of the great city, but, likewise, a place to where, on a daily basis, converge workers with origin in other localities. There are in the locality, namely, an equipment factory for the construction materials industries (exporting company), two manufacturing plants of plastic materials, furniture factories, an insulating and various thermo-plate factory alumni and metalomechanical workshops. As for the sector of the trade, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, they are installed, in Casal of Cambra, three sales stands, four parts shops and accessories-auto and various mechanics workshops, electricity, batting-plate, painting, etc. In the retail sector, various groceries and minimmarkets are installed, bakeries, fishmongers, frozen product shops, of computer and electrical supplies, of building materials, of furniture, of textiles and clothing, of articles of sport, of optical material, feed and feed, a for-pharmacy , an ourivesaria/joalharia/relojewellery, stationery and tablets, florists and various establishments of the type " bazar ".

In the area of catering and similar, Casal of Cambra has diverse restaurants and cafés (among which two pizzerias and a ready-to-eat ) and three pastry shops with own manufacture. In the area of services, there are in the locality various hair salons and aesthetics, barbershops, footwear repair shops, a typography, two video-clubs, lottery agencies and other betting games and a funeral agency. Couple of Cambra is, still, gifted from two driving schools, five real estate agencies, a documentation and accounting agency, as well as from medical, dental clinics and clinical analysis labs.

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In addition to the three bank branches, from three of the major national private banks, there is still the prospect of the installation of two more agencies.

VII. Of Transport and Acessibilities Couple of Cambra is served by public transport, with various road links, carried out by two operators, to the network of the metropolitan (Ponhad, Odivelas, Military College), and to that of the railway (Amadora). It has direct accessibility to the motorway network, through the Belas Node, located about 1 km from the limit of the freguesia. In Couple of Cambra is also installed a taxi square.

VIII. From Collectivities and Associations In Couple of Cambra, in addition to an association of owners, there are other associative organisations, which there develop their cultural, sports and recreational activities, specifically: Recreational and Cultural Association "April 7" Football Club "The Awakens" Cycle Groups-tourism "The Gaivotas" and "The Passarboys" Image caption-Association of Cambra Couple Young People's Association "Other Rituals"-Cultural Association

IX. Of Religious Traditions Every year, in the last week of the month of July, it takes place in Casal de Cambra an evocative party of the Padroeira, Santa Marta, where it is also commemorating the anniversary of the Junta de Freguesia. In addition to this, every May 12, it is held in the locality an evocative procession of the apparitions of Fatima, between the Parochial Church and the Chapel of Santa Marta.

X. Legal Criteria and Conclusions The regime for the creation and extinction of local authorities and of designation and determination of the category of settlements, initially regulated by Law No. 11/82 of June 2, has meanwhile been deeply altered. The freguess-raising scheme is now regulated by Law No. 8/93 of March 5, with the amendments introduced by Law No. 51-A/93 of July 9, by remaining in the initial law the requirements for the designation and determination of the category of the stands. The settlement of Casal de Cambra brings together all the legal requirements, particularly those provided for in Article 12 of the already cited law, to be able to be elevated to the category of Vila.

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In these terms, and still for the reasons of historical, geographical, demographic and socio-economic order set out, the Member and Deputy of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, below signed, submit, under the constitutional provisions, applicable legal and regimental, the following Draft Law:

SINGLE ARTICLE The settlement of Casal of Cambra, in the county of Sintra, is elevated to the category of Vila.

Lisbon, Assembly of the Republic, March 24, 2009

The Member Deputy The Deputy

(Ana Couto) (Rui Vieira)