The plenary session of La Laguna approved yesterday to urge the suspension of the project called TF-5 variant and to bet, instead, on the development of the Bus-HOV lane system to decongest the traffic on that road. This is reflected in an amendment presented by United You Can, a member of the Government group, to a motion of Citizens, and which achieved the support of CC, coming out approved, with the abstention of PP and Cs and the vote against PSOE and Avante, the other two government partners.
Specifically, in the amendment defended by the spokesman for the United You Can, Rubens Ascanio, it is stated that the City hall “rejects that the improvement of traffic in Tenerife passes through the variant of the TF-5, which after the study of the project generates a wide environmental impact, affects land areas of high agricultural value and favors the use of private vehicles”. In this sense, it is argued that the execution of the infrastructure “will contribute to the increase of unsustainable mobility in the municipality and on the Island.”
For this reason, “we urge the institutions to stop this project and to search for alternatives with less impact, which will reduce the effect of the TF-5 as it passes through La Laguna, based on the promotion of public transport.” Along these lines, administrations are urged “to give priority to the development of Bus-HOV systems”.
Finally, the Government’s Public Works Department is asked “not to declare the urgent occupation of the land affected by this infrastructure.” United can present this amendment to a motion of Cs in which measures were requested to defend the rights of the neighbors affected by said infrastructure, in terms of expropriations. Molina regretted that the meaning of the motion was distorted by mixing it with another one carried by CC, in which he called for the project to be stopped, and advocated having “the tools” to defend the neighbors in case the work went ahead.
In a similar vein, the PP spokesman, Manolo Gómez, and the director of the Planning Department, Santiago Pérez, also expressed, who defended that “we have expressed the will to help the affected neighbors in the exercise of their rights.” The PSOE spokesman, Alejandro Marrero, explained that “our vote is against because the two motions have been mixed up and have lost the meaning it had,” and stressed that “the PSOE is in favor of measures to protect human rights. of those affected” by the project.
Meanwhile, the CC spokesman, Jonathan Domínguez, defended that “this road does not solve the underlying problem, which is to decongest the TF-5”.
The project was debated again in the following motion, presented by CC and in which they requested the paralysis of the infrastructure and prioritize the resources for the third Bus-HOV lane and park and ride. Santiago Pérez presented an amendment in which he recalled that the variant of the TF-5 is independent of the outer road, which he has always defended eliminating. And he argued that the variant is a project that, although it is not the definitive solution to mobility problems, “will alleviate the problem for a while”, will allow the TF-5 to be buried as it passes through the municipality and its future growth towards the south, and not towards the Vega.
The CC motion went ahead with their vote and that of United can, the abstention of the PP and the no of the PSOE and Avante.
energy saving
On the other hand, the Plenary also approved several motions as institutional, such as the one presented by the mayor, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, with measures to increase energy saving in the municipality, and in which the City Council commits itself to LED public lighting reaching 65% in three years, to continue with photovoltaic consumption projects and to adopt specific actions in Christmas lighting.
A plenary session that started with the inauguration of Cristina Darias as the new councilor of CC, after the resignation of Candelaria Díaz. Also, during the session, some residents of San Vicente Street, in Taco, interrupted the debate to ask for a solution to the problems caused by a squatter neighbor in the area, and with whom the mayor and several councilors met in a recess.
