The Council of Ministers of the Government of Spain held this Tuesday, October 18, 2022 in Madrid approved an agreement by which “the Municipality of Icod de los Vinos to celebrate from a popular query about the type of sand to use for the recovery of San Marcos beach». According to the official website of the President of the Government of Spain and the Council of Ministers, “the object of this consultation must not be considered a matter of municipal competence, and therefore, article 71 of the Regulatory Law of the Bases of the Local Regimeso it cannot be authorized.
The highest representatives of the national government consider that the issue raised by the City Council of Icod de los Vinos in February 2022 «it falls within the concept of the recovery of the beaches, a matter of state competence in the terms of article 111.1 of the Coastal Law, when it states that they will be classified as works of general interest and will be the responsibility of the Administration of the State, among others, the creation, regeneration and recovery of beaches. In the same sense it is pronounced the General Regulation of Costs».
In addition, the agreement Minister council points out that “Organic Law 1/2018, reforming the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands, establishes that it corresponds to the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, in matters of coastal planning, respecting the general regime of the public domain, exclusive competence, which includes in In any case, the execution of works and actions on the Canary coast when they are not of general interest, the attribution of the services provided on beaches and other places on the coast, in coordination with local entities, and the prior report of the Autonomous Community on the execution of works of general interest on the Canary coast». It also underlines that “The transfer of functions and services for planning and management of the coast from the State to the Canary Islands will not be effective until January 1, 2023”.
A previous survey
Given the delay in the response from the Government of Spain, which has taken almost 8 months, the mayor of Icod de los Vinos, Francis González (CC), organized a citizen survey last summer to find out the opinion of the residents. 90% opted for the use of natural sand and not crushed.
