The City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife remains committed to transforming the city’s most famous beach. The municipal corporation, led by Coalición Canaria and the Popular Party, is attempting to revive the Las Teresitas urban development project through a minor modification of the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) for the capital. The draft of this plan, issued in July 2024 and accessed by this newspaper, proposes a maximum of 500 hotel beds, underground parking, and tram access for this location. The document states that the aim is to “satisfy the undeniable public interest in this significant site.”
The front of this beach has a long history, marred by corruption. This corner of Santa Cruz was the scene of one of the largest urban windfalls in the Canary Islands: the Las Teresitas case. The saga dates back to 2001 and culminated with the imprisonment of former mayor and senator Miguel Zerolo (CC) for prevarication and embezzlement of public funds.
The City Council bought a plot of land from entrepreneurs Antonio Plasencia and Ignacio González, which was already publicly owned, for 52.2 million euros, even though it was valued at 20 million. The entrepreneurs were also convicted in this case.
In April 2016, a Special Management Plan for the beach front was designed, but it was halted in 2017 when the courts overturned the PGOU of Santa Cruz de Tenerife due to lack of environmental assessment. Now, a new proposal aims to establish “a management plan that allows for a high-quality environmental and landscape area, providing the beach front with the necessary facilities and services for its public use,” as stated in the draft.
This document, comprising 178 pages and produced by the public company Gestur (Urban Management of Santa Cruz de Tenerife S.A.), emphasises that “it has no regulatory character” and that its main function is “to serve as a basis for the initial phase of strategic environmental assessment.” The text outlines the “problems detected” in Las Teresitas. This summary highlights the lack of pavements, excessive private vehicle use, poor maintenance of heritage elements, and difficulties accessing the beach. Furthermore, it underscores that the prevalence of cars and the layout of current parking limits other possible uses compatible with leisure and the beach.
In 2014, the City Council initiated a process of public participation right at the beach. Among the most common concerns voiced by Las Teresitas users, as recorded in the draft itself, were beach cleanliness, lack of parking, traffic congestion when accessing the area, obstacles to reaching it by public transport, and the overcrowding of the village of San Andrés due to visitors. In addition, the community demanded improvements to toilets and changing rooms, as well as the need to strengthen “the indigenous and local”.
A five-star hotel
In this context, the draft outlines four alternatives for the “urban development” of Las Teresitas. One of these options is to leave the area as it currently is. Alternative 1 involves promoting an urban park with parking and sports areas but without reserving land for hotel use. The other two options do include a hotel. Alternative 3 is presented as the “most appropriate” model and proposes the creation of a large urban park facing the beach, surface public parking, underground parking, a sports facility zone, a “small or medium” commercial area, a tram line, and a hotel complex.
The hotel plot, located next to the Montaña de San Roque, could accommodate a five-star hotel with a capacity of up to 500 places. The maximum buildable area is 25,000 square metres for the hotel and 15,000 square metres for complementary uses. According to the draft, due to the proposed location for the hotel, “the view from the beach and the landscape […] would not be affected by any building.”
The document also argues that “accommodation activity economically facilitates the enhancement” of the area, “in contrast to the current state characterised by notable neglect.” However, the conversion of the Las Teresitas front into a tourist destination has raised alarms among the population, which has been demanding a model change for months and setting limits on overcrowding.
The Tenerife Friends of Nature Association (ATAN) claims that the project is “a new attack” that aims to “serve tourism at one of the municipality’s most popular locations, where local people and other Tenerife citizens enjoy leisure.”
This criticism is reflected in the draft itself, which captures the concerns of the public collected during the public exposure period. “They say that the construction of a five-star hotel is proposed near the beach, which I consider a nonsense that would only create problems without offering anything in return,” stated a daily beachgoer.
Historical heritage
The document devotes an entire section to historical heritage. Although it notes that no assets declared as Cultural Interest (BIC) have been located, it indicates that there are elements with significant heritage values. This includes a catalogued paleontological site, the only one in the western islands where the fossil Strombus bubónicus, typical of the “last interglacial of the Mediterranean-Lusitanian marine region,” has been identified.
Also along the coast remains the San Andrés cemetery, established in 1893 following the cholera epidemic. The draft excludes this “historical reference” from any intervention, as it is an area of cultural interest. “There must be a suitable integration of the cemetery with the proposed public uses in its surroundings due to this modification,” it clarifies. It also mentions the old Igueste path, used to transport agricultural products and crafts, and the ancient defensive systems, such as the old military battery on the San Roque mountain.
Reactions
In the face of a flood of criticism, the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez (CC), responded that “there are people who are specialists in criticising before we even have a document that we are going to approve.” In his statements to the media prior to a CEOE event, the mayor noted that the plot will not only be for hotel use but that a “socio-health centre and an office building will also be created to generate jobs not linked to tourism.”
The nationalist leader has emphasised that the plot is public, owned by the City Council, and represents a “great difference” with any other hotel promotion project being undertaken in the Canary Islands, “which are privately-led projects.”
Regarding the timeline for the start of this project, the municipal corporation insists that the urban park can be executed “once the minor modification of PGOU number 2 is definitively approved.” “Subsequently, the project will have to be drafted and then put out for tender,” they added. Meanwhile, the Urban Planning councillor, Zaida González, said on Radio Marca Tenerife this Thursday that the final approval of the project is expected to take place at the end of 2026 or early 2027.
