Carmen Luisa Castro, spokesperson for the PP, claims that the municipal government proceeded to enclose the Las Bajas settlement, preventing access to the houses. According to Castro, there is “no resolution, no reasoned municipal decree, or resolution from the General Directorate of Coasts” supporting this action. The measure is being implemented despite the fact that “there are houses for which the Superior Court of Justice of Canarias has granted a coastal administrative concession”, with the transfer still pending.
The PP is requesting an extraordinary session for the Mayor, Gustavo Pérez, and the Urban Planning Councillor, Airam Puerta, to explain their decisions to fence off the path that prevents residents from accessing their homes and the municipal aid of over 6,000 Euros for housing expenses “of which the affected parties themselves were not even aware”.
The councillor met with the residents and describes the decree authorizing the construction of the fence as “another nonsensical decision by the municipal government, as it involves coercive measures against the owners of this community, based on a decree from three years ago,” Castro clarifies.
She points out that the residents left in 2021, “as a goodwill gesture,” to allow for the execution of “supposedly urgent works on the” slope warning that “there could be an imminent risk of landslides”. She asserts that “they were promised that the City Council, through the contractor, would reimburse them for the rent, a promise that was later broken”. Some families are facing court orders to pay up to 25,000 Euros for non-payment of the rent for alternative accommodation.
“The truth is that there has never been an eviction order, nor have we been shown the technical report on which the emergency work in 2021 was based, nor is there now an updated technical report supporting this action against the residents,” she concludes.
The municipal government has already explained that the collapse of the fence due to the sea storm last April “resulted in the City Council having to urgently contract the perimeter closure through a special and reinforced fence along the nearly 350 meters, for an amount of 34,700 Euros, an action carried out in strict compliance with the technical conditions set by the Government of Canarias and the Coastal Demarcation of the State, within the Las Bajas Enclosure project”.
Regarding the economic aid announced by the local government, the PP spokesperson alleges that interested parties “have not been able to benefit” because they were informed recently “on social media, when the application deadline had already passed.”
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Castro persists in wanting to know “on what geological survey and judicial resolution they are basing their decision to prevent residents from entering their homes”.
