Adeje Town Hall has authorised the luxury urbanisation promoter Cuna del Alma, located in Puertito de Armeñime, to relocate specimens of the echium triste plant to another area on the Adeje coast. In a report from the Presidency and Territorial Planning department, the Council declares itself competent to allow the translocation of these specimens with the endorsement of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Tenerife Island Council, and the local Environmental Body.
This step signifies a new show of support for the promoter to continue with the construction of the urbanisation on a 437,000 square meter area in the El Puertito de Adeje Partial Plan, with 146,091 square meters of building space and 4,428 projected beds. In February of this year, the Canarian Agency for the Protection of Natural Environment, under the Ministry of Politics Territorial of the Canary Islands, lifted the only one of the three halt orders that remained in force on the ongoing works.
The body, established to ensure compliance with regulations protecting the Archipelago’s natural spaces of general interest, annulled the stop order and the €110,000 fine imposed on the project promoter for starting the works without obtaining prior environmental impact assessment. The agency deemed that the documentation approved by the Town Hall validated the urbanisation.
Two other proceedings that hindered progress in specific areas of the project were also archived, in this instance due to expiration. One related to this species, the echium triste, and others that are found in Puertito de Armeñime. On 11th November 2022, the Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Canary Islands Government, during the term of the flower pact (PSOE, NC, Podemos, ASG), ordered a provisional halt to work on Cuna del Alma due to imminent threat of environmental damage to this wild plant species.
The third punitive procedure, initiated by the General Directorate of Heritage of the Canary Islands Government, was based on damages to an archaeological site in the project area. This case was also considered expired due to formal deficiencies. Both decisions were made by the Canarian government in this term, with CC and PP at the helm.
Regarding the authority to allow the promoter to relocate specimens of the echium triste, a herb that can reach a height of one meter with rosette-arranged leaves and white or pink flowers, a controversy arose about which administration should address it. A report from the Ministry of Ecological Transition determined that it was the responsibility of the Tenerife Island Council, and another report from the latter concluded that municipalities, as the bodies approving urban development projects, have the authority to grant this permission. The Adeje Council not only granted all permits and construction licences but in January declared the Cuna del Alma plots as of public interest.
The Council clarifies in the resolution authorising the transfer of specimens to another area on the Adeje coast that this species “is not covered nor protected by the state Law on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity”. It is included in the Canarian Catalogue of Protected Species, classified as a species of special protection, which according to this official inventory are not under threat nor particularly significant ecologically but do require “special attention”.
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Environmental groups reject these arguments and demand a halt to the works due to the threat posed to the echium triste, damages to archaeological sites, and the project’s lack of an environmental impact assessment.
