The municipal government of La Orotava, headed by the nationalist Francisco Linares (CC), announced yesterday that it has presented an amendment to the whole so that the Government of the Canary Islands withdraws the Master Plan for the Use and Management of the Teide National Park (PRUG). Linares, at a press conference, denounced yesterday that the document, which is on public display until today, “has not been paralyzed nor has the deadline for allegations been extended, as announced by the counselor.” The mayor refers to the Minister of Ecological Transition of the Canarian Government, José Antonio Valbuena, whose area leads the work to renew the rules of use of Teide.
Linares made it clear that the Orotavense government team “is in favor of the existence of a Plan for Teide and also advocates for the conservation and protection of the National Park”, but specified that “It has to be through a control and not be all prohibition and not be able to do anything at all». Linares lamented that it is “a plan that does not include the affected municipalities or the general public of the Island.”
In addition to the amendment to the entirety, the The local government of La Orotava has presented 32 allegations to the Master Plan for the Use and Management of the Teide National Park. Demands the stoppage of the Mobility Plan “Until there is a consensus”, that the infrastructures for parking in the Portillo Alto are not carried out – “offering the Aguamansa neighborhood as an alternative” – and that the opinion of the municipalities and the residents of the highlands be counted on. Likewise, it rejects that in the PRUG “it only speaks of visitors”, proposing that a distinction be established between residents, tourists and mountaineers, and “that it be clearly stated that residents of Tenerife are not going to pay to use the Park National”.
La Orotava also proposes for a space with the highest level of protection «that it is considered mandatory to have adequate surveillance, so there should be the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard as well as Environmental personnel from the administration responsible for managing the Park». It also defends the practice of sports “in a controlled way”, allowing cycling on the tracks that were already authorized, maintaining climbing, that mountaineers be taken into account and that the request for activities for groups can be carried out in 15 days, in time in 30.
In addition, Francisco Linares and his colleagues from the Orotavense government team are committed to maintaining beekeeping, and that up to 3,000 hives be allowed in the Park in the face of the cuts proposed by the PRUG promoters, who want to reduce them to 1,200, “with the consequent economic damage to the industry.” In addition, a wider distribution should be allowed on the surface of the Teide National Park, without limiting the areas of use.