the mayor of La OrotavaFrancisco Linares, yesterday requested that the progress document of the Governing Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) be withdrawn from the Teide National Park, to start “from scratch”, with a process that takes into account “active, effective and real” participation, of which citizens are a part and extending the deadlines. “The future of the National Park cannot be said over the next month,” he said.
Accompanied by all the councilors of his government group (CC), Linares clarified that he wanted to appear publicly due to the “intense concern” that neighbors and different groups in the municipality have expressed to him about this document, before which he will present a battery of amendments and trust that that things “can be done in another way, from calm and participation”.
One of the sectors that will be most damaged are beekeepers. In this sense, he specified that there will be a 60% reduction in the hives that have historically been in that place, going from 2,700 to 1,200. “Beekeeping has not subtracted anything from the Park, on the contrary, it has added and taken care of its flora and beekeepers feel neglected, damaged and excluded despite the fact that it is a very serious, rigorous and careful sector,” said the president.
Another affected group, according to Linares, is that of athletes, mountaineers and hikers, who have always “cared for it and pampered it and now find themselves prohibited from enjoying it”, just like the residents who live in the upper area of La Orotava .
“The Park does not belong to the politicians on duty, nor to the technical reports that can be made, nor to those who write the plans, but to the citizens of Tenerife, and therefore they must be co-participants in what is going to be done. in the next 20 or 30 years,” said Linares, for whom a plan “that is based solely on prohibition is destined to fail because it does not have the support of citizens, it must be based on regulation.”
The nationalist councilor criticized the fact that the document does not include a public shelter, a facility that his government group has always supported, “embedded in the landscape and regulated by the authorities, as is the case in many parts of the world.” Moreover, he added, “it is not even necessary to build anything, there are already buildings in the park that can be adapted as a shelter. I don’t see that the technicians who have made this advance have taken it into account”.
Linares also considered that residents cannot be treated in the same way as tourists and advocated that the latter pay an amount to receive a series of services that serve to maintain the park, “which costs 4 million euros each year. ”.
Regarding the mobility plan included in the PRUG, he confessed that “he is concerned about how we can enter, how long we can stay, if we will have to pay to enter with our car. The resident in Tenerife has to have free parking, he cannot pay to use the park”, she sentenced.
The alderman showed his concern for the security of the place. “Why do we have a PRUG if out of 24 hours, half will not be cared for or watched by anyone?” He questioned himself. In this sense, he demanded that the Civil Guard barracks once again have a permanent headquarters in the park, because in the event of any event “it is the Local Police of La Orotava that has to act and is one hour away.” Likewise, he took the opportunity to underline that it is also the Villero City Council that collects waste from the Park and therefore, “they cannot blame us for not collaborating because part of the municipal budget is destined for this purpose” and he wondered if ” It is not the time for the PRUG to contemplate that the Cabildo, as a responsible administration, finance it”.
Of the 19,000 hectares that the National Park has, 13,000 are in La Orotava, but he indicated that the National Park also borders 14 municipalities and was in favor of organizing a table with the rest of the mayors “so that they ask us for our opinion, something that It has happened,” he said.
In his opinion, a period of amendments, which was extended until July 22 due to citizen pressure, is not enough. “We think that the correct way is to open a debate not only with the public authorities and groups, but also with the citizens of Tenerife”, a process “that the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo de Tenerife have to lead, and I am sure that everyone we are willing to collaborate and add, because the Teide National Park is Tenerife”.
