The Canary Islands Association of Environmental Consultants (AECCM) believes that designating public land in Las Teresitas for hotel use, shopping centres, and green spaces, as the municipal government of CC and PP in Santa Cruz de Tenerife intends, without addressing the “structural deficiencies” of San Andrés, is “urban irresponsibility”.
In a statement, this association notes that “while hotels and gardens are being announced by the sea”, there are areas in the urban centre of San Andrés “without sanitation, without drainage, with spills contaminating Las Teresitas beach, without adequate parking, and without orderly access to the beach”.
For the environmental consultants, the Council led by José Manuel Bermúdez (Coalición Canaria) “ignores that Las Teresitas is not a vacant plot for private investment”, but “part of a living urban fabric, with real needs that have been neglected for decades”.
“One cannot speak of the future when there are spills contaminating the beach, neighbourhoods without essential services, and a complete lack of affordable housing for young people and working families,” they assert.
Public land should be allocated “to resolve public problems, not to fuel real estate operations for private purposes,” the association states, insisting that the Council “has an obligation to manage with a forward-looking vision, not to improvise with short-term interests or electoral agendas”.
“Less fantasy and more management. Less showcase and more planning. We demand responsibility, citizen participation, and good governance,” summarise the consultants.
The association acknowledges as a positive aspect of the project the planned works to improve access to the beach area, the provision of parking, and the remodelling of the seafront, as it “could form part of a future that is organised and functional”.
However, it warns that these actions “only make sense if they are integrated within a Special Plan for San Andrés-Las Teresitas”, which includes a definitive solution for waste management and water treatment, guaranteed and orderly access for residents and visitors, public housing for municipal promotion, social facilities, public services, and quality communal spaces, along with the protection of the coastal environment “as a common good, free and accessible”.
The AECCM warns that allocating public land in Las Teresitas to hotels without addressing the structural issues in San Andrés is “urban irresponsibility”.
