The Government of the Canary Islands endorsed the Cuna del Alma tourism project in 2018

This is stated in the communication that the Ministry of Politics Territorial, Sustainability and Security (today of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning) sent to the Adeje City Council (also to the Cabildo de Tenerife) six days later, on October 24, to which EL DÍA has had access. In it, it orders the incorporation of “the measures proposed in the environmental report” to the urban planning document approved by the Consistory.

However, in the statement made public on the 11th, it is specified that “at present”, the Ministry “is also analyzing all the documentation provided to determine if this project required an environmental impact study at the beginning.” In fact, the councilor for the area, José Antonio Valbuena, told this newspaper that “the Cuna del Alma project lacked an environmental impact study in accordance with the law.” The day before yesterday it was reiterated when reporting that “in the Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment, dependent on this Ministry, another file related to this project is being processed due to the absence of an environmental impact statement.”

The experts define the environmental report as “the document that accredits the evaluation of the environmental impact of a business project”. It is made up of studies and technical investigations to anticipate the possible effects that the start-up of a business activity may have on the environment.

Applied to the Cuna del Alma project, the City Council relies on the current legislation in this regard – as stated by the legal reports available to the municipal Administration – to defend that the environmental memory covers “any action that is carried out in the partial plan -except for the houses that make up the neighborhood of El Puertito de Adeje-, which includes the urbanization works, which are those that are carried out up to now”.

A protocol without effect

Bearing in mind that the regulations already contemplate the subsequent appearance of conditions that lead to changes, the Adejero Consistory defends that the environmental memory “includes an action protocol” that establishes how to act if the presence of a species to be protected is detected. A protocol that, warns the City Council, “is skipped by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning” with the opening of the file to settle the absence of an environmental impact report, as repeatedly announced by the counselor, José Antonio Valbuena.

The Cotmac approved, on March 6, 2018, “definitively and conditionally”, the environmental report of the document called Partial Review of the General Management Plan of Adeje in the area of ​​Sector S06 Puertito de Adeje. Barely seven months later, this body dependent on Territorial Policy grants its full agreement.

It is a 192-page document that includes an annex corresponding to the report of the Cabildo de Tenerife. In it, preventive measures are contemplated regarding possible damages in the execution of the urbanization of the plot. In the environmental report, to which this newspaper has had access, reference is made to these preventive measures in terms of waste and discharges.

On the 10th, the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands communicated to the promoter Segunda Casa Adeje SL the order of precautionary stoppage of the works of the Cuna del Alma tourist project. The cause: “imminent threat of environmental damage to protected wild flora.” This is due to “the presence of the sad snake (Echium triste), whose existence in this plot is verified by the regional Biodiversity Service and the Natural Environment Protection Agency. “In addition, there is a formal recognition from the promoter company itself about the presence of this plant and the interference of the works with it,” said Transición Ecológica in a statement. The company and the Adeje City Council have 15 days to present allegations.

At this point, it should be noted that the background to the resolution shows that it was the company itself that informed the Canary Islands Government of the presence of this protected plant, “requesting authorization from the Autonomous Community to recover it and move it from one place.” However, those same records point to an environmental association as the complainant, a complaint that “was after the promoter’s request.” In addition, in the agreement to initiate the file, three environmental associations other than the one that filed the late complaint are mentioned as “interested in the procedure, without mentioning in the resolution how or in what way they were incorporated into the file and for what purpose” .

All this is reflected in an external legal report commissioned by the Adeje City Council to which EL DÍA has had access. The same one that questions the legality of the stoppage of the works because the Executive’s action is out of time and because the Canarian Government adopts decisions that violate municipal autonomy.