The mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares, yesterday detailed part of the 32 allegations that the municipality of Villero has presented to the Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) of the Teide National Park, whose period of allegations ends today, July 22. The villero alderman began his speech advancing that in addition to the 32 partial allegations, one is also presented to the entire document since “we continue to think that a process of real citizen participation should be withdrawn and opened, so that groups, associations and municipalities, the 14 to which the 19,000 hectares of the park belong, can participate in the preparation of the document”.
Linares added that, “as of today, one day before the deadline expires, we do not know the Mobility Plan for the Teide National Park, as we had been told”.
Before proceeding to detail the content of the amendments, Linares insisted that “this government team is in favor of” having a Plan, and also advocates for the conservation and protection of the park, but through control and not of being all prohibition and not being able to do absolutely anything”.
Most of the amendments presented have to do with the defense of traditional uses on Teide and that other groups also defend, such as mountaineers, climbers, or beekeepers. Linares also criticized the construction of buildings within the limits of the National Park, pointing out that “we have presented an allegation that infrastructures of this type should not be inside the park, they cannot be in the Portillo Alto, and that if something similar to that, be located in Aguamansa, as we have been proposing since 2008 in the work tables”.
Another claim has to do with the free services for residents. “For us it is an important allegation because while the PRUG speaks of visitors, we speak of tourists and residents. It is one thing for a tourist to come to visit the park, who we do believe should collaborate to maintain the space and pay for the services they receive, and another is the residents of Tenerife, who do not have to pay a euro for the services of Teide. We already collaborate with the payment of our taxes”, defended Linares.
For a space of this environmental value, the municipal councilor pointed out, it is considered mandatory to have adequate surveillance, for which he asked that the Civil Guard post be reopened as well as provide Environment personnel from the administration responsible for the management from the park. Safety is for the effectiveness of conservation and maintenance measures. The practice of sports in a controlled manner is also defended, allowing cycling along the tracks that were already authorized, maintaining climbing, taking mountaineers into account and requesting activities for groups instead of in 30 days can be carried out in 15.
It is also committed to maintaining beekeeping, a traditional use in the area. In this sense, it is requested that up to 3,000 beehives be allowed in the park compared to the cut proposed by the PRUG promoters who want to reduce them to 1,200 with the consequent economic damage to the sector. In addition, a wider distribution on the surface of the park should be allowed, without limiting the areas of use.
An insular Waste Plan is also proposed, which contemplates the collection and transfer to the transfer plants. In addition, it is requested that the collection of flowers be included, in a controlled way, for the Corpus rugs, and to recover the Camino de Chasna.
