”After years of waiting, we are finally on the path to transforming Las Teresitas while maintaining the objective of it remaining the people’s beach, the beach for everyone.” The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez (Coalición Canaria), announced on June 30th the city’s project for this beach. He did so through his Instagram account. In the post, he added an infographic showing the different uses planned for the Las Teresitas area: a shop, an urban park, public surface parking, a sports equipment area, and a plot for hotel use. Following the outpouring of criticism regarding the proposal, the city council defends that this plan is merely ”a draft”.
Three days ago, Bermúdez revealed that the city council is ”unlocking the necessary urban planning” to turn Las Teresitas into a space with a ”promenade area, sports leisure area, and sustainable lighting”. The announcement arrives amidst a wave of protests against the tourist overcrowding in Tenerife, which led to swift complaints about the construction of a hotel and a commercial building in the area.
”But why a hotel? Why can’t they leave the only beach in decent condition we have for the people of Santa Cruz”, ”beach for the people, but the part that is going to grow the most is the hotel use” or ”the beginning of the end for a unique space” are some of the responses found on social media.
ATAN (Tenerife Nature Friends Association) has classified this project as a ”new attack that is intended to be carried out on the island”. ”Another hotel, this time to serve tourism at one of the most popular spots in the municipality, where the locals and the rest of the Tenerife citizens enjoy their leisure time”, they criticise.
Three days after announcing the urban park, Bermúdez has responded to the criticisms: ”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 before a CEOE event, the mayor said that the plot will not only have hotel use but that it will also accommodate ”a social and healthcare centre and an office building to create jobs not linked to tourism”.
The nationalist leader insisted that the plot is public, owned by the city council, and represents a ”significant difference” with any other hotel development projects currently taking place in the Canary Islands, ”which are private projects”.
”A draft”
When asked by this newspaper about the services this urban park will offer and its expected costs, the city council insisted that modification number 2 of the General Urban Development Plan from 2005 ”is in draft stage”. ”Currently, there is no urban park project because the minor modification has not been approved. Therefore, there is not even an investment forecast at this moment”, they pointed out.
Regarding the dates when this project will begin, the municipal corporation insists that the urban park can only be executed ”once the minor modification of the PGO number 2 is definitively approved”. ”Subsequently, the project will need to be drafted and then put out to tender for execution”, they added.
With respect to the hotel plot and the number of beds that will be offered, the city council has limited its response to stating that the data they currently have is ”tentative” and that as the phases progress, the draft may change, which is being evaluated by an environmental body to issue the reference document that will provide the guidelines for the environmental assessment. ”From that point, the work of drafting the initial approval documents, along with their strategic environmental study, will continue and will be submitted for public information and consultation”, they noted.
Opacity
ATAN has denounced the city’s opacity regarding the plot. The environmental organisation claims that the municipal corporation did not respond in a timely manner to documentation requested on 27th February regarding this matter, ”violating the right to access public information recognised in the Law 12/2014 of Transparency in the Canary Islands”.
The ecologists requested the complete file proving the ownership of the hotel plot intended for the Las Teresitas area. ”In light of administrative silence and lack of municipal collaboration, the entity appealed to the Commissioner, who ultimately ruled in favour of ATAN, ordering the city council to send the requested documentation within 15 working days”, the association claims.
ATAN demands that the Santa Cruz government act transparently. ”We remind you that due to crimes in this same area, Miguel Zerolo, former mayor, was sentenced to prison over the Las Teresitas case”, ATAN points out. This case dates back to 2001 and constituted one of the largest urban land windfalls in the Canary Islands. The city council purchased land for €52.5 million, which was valued at €20, owned by businessmen Ignacio González and Antonio Plasencia. The objective was to urbanise the land with a shopping centre and a hotel.
The Supreme Court confirmed that there was a ”well-orchestrated scheme, with all precision and preparation, for a whole urban operation involving the city’s purchase of land at a price far above its real value, severely damaging the municipal coffers”. The then mayor, Miguel Zerolo, was imprisoned for abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds.
Canarian government is a joke!