The Santa Cruz Town Planning Councilor, Carlos Tarife, met yesterday with representatives of the large operators (Mercadona, Hiperdino, Lidl, Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Alcampo, Aldi and Fepeco) to inform them that the Management is continuing with the process to approve the provisional ordinance that will allow the opening of surfaces of up to 2,500 square meters, until the new General Plan for the management of the capital is approved.
In October 2020, the Higher Court of Justice of the Canary Islands overturned the 2013 Plan. At that time the basic adaptation regulations of 2005 came into force, with which supermarkets can only open surfaces of up to 750 square meters. The Sectorial Law of the Government of the Canary Islands, by which the rest of the municipalities of the Archipelago are governed, allows to open stores of up to 2,500 square meters, hence the need to approve a provisional arrangement of the land law to be able to open centers of these dimensions in the capital of Tenerife.
Carlos Tarife explained to DIARIO DE AVISOS that a week ago the Urban Planning area received a report from the Government of the Canary Islands in which it was indicated that the provisional ordinance, which is expected to be brought to plenary session in December to be definitively approved, must bring an environmental impact report with you. Something that the councilor denies, who assures that the ordinances, according to the Land Law, do not carry this type of reports, because what they do is adapt the sectoral regulations in the commercial field to the current situation of the capital.
“With this report, the Canarian Government comes to say that what we are doing is not a provisional ordinance of the land law, but a planning modification. And anything farter from the reality. This is a technical legal outrage by the Government of the Canary Islands, as it goes against the economic interests of the city, ”said Tarife. In addition, he assured that if this environmental evaluation had to be carried out, the ordinance could be extended in time and would be approved “throughout 2023.”
Urbanism will respond, therefore, in the next few days to the Canarian Government and will expose “with technical and legal arguments” that the ordinance is for provisional use, valid for two years, and that these ordinances, according to the Land Law, do not include an environmental assessment, since “they are born with the intention of adapting to the circumstances that arise. In this case, to the situation in which the capital is until the new General Plan is approved ”.
Faced with the possibility that the Canarian Government would initiate a dispute and annul the provisional ordinance, Tarife says that the licenses granted would not be affected, since it would be shown that “what is done is to adapt to the Executive’s own regulations.” This would be, said the mayor, “a major nonsense that would slow down investment and would put many jobs at stake.” And it is that “now there would be between five and eight projects on the table.”
