Judge Nuria María del Prado Medina Martín, magistrate of the Contentious-Administrative Court number 4 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, has upheld the appeal against the City of Arona. In a ruling issued last Friday (January 24), she confirmed that the land occupied by the contentious industrial unit in Guaza should not be converted to commercial use, contrary to the decision made in 2018 by then Urban Planning Mayor, Luis García (previously with PSOE and now part of Más por Arona), who was dismissed last week by the current Mayor, Fatima Lemes (PP), along with three other council members from her party.
The ruling therefore favours those who contested the land’s reclassification as commercial, having filed a complaint against it. This change was initiated by businessman Diego Cano, promoter of the Arts Shopping Centre, which significantly contributed to the fallout within the PSOE government. This property was sold two months later to the car rental firm Cicar for 5.5 million euros.
The Arona Council was represented in this ordinary process by the lawyer of the Cabildo de Tenerife, with Melifosi Consulting SL and Cicar present as co-defendants. The complainants lodged a contentious appeal against the councillor’s resolution dated June 15, 2018 (number 4,224), which granted a consolidated usage license to Melisofi Consulting. They sought to annul that action, asserting that legal requirements were not met and the necessary process for the conversion had not been fulfilled. The Council did not contest the appeal, acknowledging that the ex officio review had commenced and that, “due to a lack of personnel and resources, it had not issued an explicit resolution.” Meanwhile, the co-defendant firms opposed the nullification of the resolution.
With the council’s decision not to oppose the appeal, the judge noted that “without an express resolution guaranteeing it, it could be seen as a mere inquiry” and concluded that “there is no resolution to consider there is extrajudicial satisfaction.” The judge believes it is not necessary to evaluate the substance since there is an explicit admission by the required administration that the resolution does not comply with the law. This allows for a ruling in favour of the claimant’s demands.
Additionally, the magistrate stated that the appeal could not be dismissed since both co-defendant firms had requested the City Council, which issued the resolution. Although it is common for interested parties benefitting from the contested resolution to oppose it, their objection is merely formal and cannot result in harm or lead to the dismissal of the claim, given the arguments and findings presented by the defendant.
Ultimately, the judge has approved the appeal against the alteration of uses and has not imposed any procedural costs on either side.
A case that contributed to the disruption of the local government last week
The court thereby prevents the industrial unit from being repurposed for the commercial use that was originally intended. This site, previously utilised by companies such as Renault, sat unused for years while its status was preserved as rustic, and it continued to undergo enhancement and expansion work despite the regional government’s environmental protection agency ruling against it last September.
Until this ruling, the last significant development was the seal imposed by Luis García on January 8 regarding the works, but this was overturned a week later by the mayor, who now seeks to govern alongside Vox (the agreement was published today) and with CC, albeit lacking an absolute majority unless the sole manner in which NC supports them. Although not the sole reason, the situation regarding this industrial unit and the seal from the 8th was a contributing factor to the breakdown of the government in the aftermath of the May 2023 elections, especially considering that on December 13, the conservative mayor met with Cicar’s director in the Canary Islands, Mamerto Cabrera. This meeting included urban planning technicians, but the then mayor responsible for the area, Luis García, was not present.
