The 1,500 kilometers of coastline that the Islands have will be monitored and managed, as of January 1, by the Government of the Canary Islands and not by Costas from Madrid. Cabildos, municipalities, affected by the Law of Coasts and tourist businessmen rub their hands with what they consider good news, but the Minister of Ecological Transition, José Antonio Valbuena, warns that they assume the competence of management, but that “the Law of Coasts of 88, modified in 2014, will remain the same”.
In the south of Tenerife there are very few municipalities that are not affected by this Law. From El Rosario to Santiago del Teide, only Vilaflor, for obvious reasons (it does not have a coastline) does not have any file pending resolution with Costas.
Adeje has 26 kilometers of coastline, with four beaches and the rest rocky areas and cliffs. In total, it has 24 beaches and bathing areas, as well as a marina (Puerto Colón) with a third of the urbanized coast.
The Adejero coastline has two protected natural spaces, La Caleta and Acantilados Isorana, the latter shared with Guía Isora. The entire coastline is a ZEC zone, included in the Teno Rasca marine strip, due to the sebadales and marine fauna.
In Adeje there is a unique circumstance, because many of its beaches, most of them artificial, are given in concession by Costas to an individual, as are the cases of Troya I and II, El Bobo, La Pinta, Fañabé, Duque Sur and Norte. . Others are granted by the council to operating entities: Torviscas, Enramada, Ajabo and Jardín Tropical, while Varadero, Diego Hernández, El Puertito, Salinas, Pinque, Galgas, as well as the bathing areas of La Caleta, El Marquez and Marazul. The Councilor for Heritage, Manuel Luis Méndez, acknowledges, yes, that “we still have complex files to resolve with Costas.”
In Arona, the other great tourist transatlantic in the South, the priority continues to be the regeneration of Los Cristianos bay and its recovery to its original state, with action on Los Tarajales beach and El Callao. In addition, it is expected to act on the Paseo de Las Vistas, its comprehensive reform, whose procedure is underway and in which Costas also has some powers, when it comes to evacuating certain procedures. Another project is the Las Galletas promenade, which is to be completed.
In Granadilla de Abona we must mention the demarcation file of the maritime-terrestrial public domain of the stretch of coast that goes from El Médano point to Pelada beach. The City Council presented in 2018 an appeal with allegations to the demarcation file of the DPMT, in which the general interest of those affected by this delimitation is ensured and in which the PGO of 2005 is defended, and where the reduction of the line of 100 to 20 meters of protection easement. After the appeal filed by the City Council, the ruling of the National High Court is currently pending.
In San Miguel de Abona, Mayor Arturo González is still waiting for the San Blas beach concession to be executed by the City Council itself. “We have been two years without an answer; We hope that from January they will answer us.”
In Fasnia light can be glimpsed in its two coastal nuclei. In Los Roques, the coastal front has been in execution since February 2022 and with the authorization of Costas, while in the shelter beach, authorization is pending. In Las Eras, the imminent execution of the breakwater is expected, so much so that it is scheduled to start this week and conclude within eight months.
In Arico, from the City Council it is transferred that there are no pending files on Costas. But it should be remembered that there are three towns that are subject to the Coastal Law: Las Eras, Las Arenas and La Sarnosa.
Similarly, in Guía de Isora, beyond the four major hotel projects that are planned and are in the pipeline, there are two centers that depend on the Coastal Law: Salinas de Fonsalía and Varadero-Punta Negra.
In Santiago del Teide they are still waiting for Costas to give the go-ahead to the El Laguillo pool, which has been in existence for more than 40 years and now the renewal of the concession is pending an Environmental Impact report. Also, comments the mayor Emilio Navarro, “we are waiting for them to tell us whether a concession or a demarcation of a work in La Arena beach. A few days they tell us that it is a concession and another that it is a demarcation and we have been like this for several years”. A walk along the coast of Los Gigantes and Puerto Santiago is also planned, but “there are some houses affected when the Law changed in 2014 and they ask us to eliminate three houses to make the walk.”
If there is a municipality that knows what it means to put up with Costas’s indifference, that is Candelaria, which cannot even have a municipal swimming pool. The resolution of the concession requested two years ago is still pending, as is the case with the car park in front of the Town Hall. For now, the improvement of accesses and the provision of furniture, as well as the Graciliano promenade and Las Caletillas beach, are underway at Playa Olegario. The completion of the Punta Larga beach project (approved in 2007) is pending. It is under study by Costas de la Defensa del Litoral from Plaza de la Patrona to Calle La Arena for the protection of heritage and existing homes. The City Council also presented a proposal to reorganize the area of the former Tenerife Tour hotel, where it proposes the execution of a large square, with a rest area, viewpoint and solarium, linked to the bathing area, and then a promenade, linked to the easement protection, with tertiary uses.
In Arafo, its only bathing area, Playa de Lima, is subject to the tearing down of about five houses that invade the DPMT, to carry out a performance there.
In Güímar, apart from the sword of Damocles over the towns of Santa Lucía-Los Barrancos and La Bajas, for invading the maritime-terrestrial public domain, the main demand of the City Council to Costas is the unblocking of the El Socorro promenade. “The work is stalled due to a lack of agility on the part of Costas, who does not allow us to pass a pipeline through the maritime line to the pumping station.” Costas demands the demolition of “half a house” for the ride to take place.
In El Rosario, the main demand is a project of 1.2 million euros, financed by the Government of the Canary Islands, to reform the Tabaiba coastline, with a solarium and access to the sea, Radazul style.
Langa: “In the Canary Islands there will never be another Cho Vito”
Although in Tenerife there are about twenty small coastal towns subject to a demolition order, José Luis Langa, lawyer and president of the Canarian Platform for People Affected by the Coastal Law, emphatically points out that “a case like Cho Vito will never happen again ”, recalling the last great demolition and eviction (November 2012) that occurred in the Islands in accordance with the Coastal Law of 1988. Remember that there are 64 of the 88 municipalities in the Canary Islands that have disputes with Coasts and there are 150,000 Canarians affected. And regarding the change of competences, Langa is confident that “there will be a little more freedom to manage the services and look at their domain files from core to core. I am from Madrid and I know that they do not know about the Canary Islands there”.
