The Governing Council has accepted, in its session this Thursday, the delegation of the Yaiza City Council, to the Autonomous Environmental Assessment Commission, of the competence for the strategic environmental assessment, ordinary or simplified, of municipal urban planning instruments, as well as the competence for the environmental impact assessment of projects that must be processed and authorized by the City Council.
Law 4/2017 on Land and Protected Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands (LSENPC) establishes that the approval, substantial modification and adaptation of territorial, environmental and urban planning instruments will be subject to the environmental assessment procedure for plans and programs, in the terms contemplated in the state basic legislation and in said Law.
Decree Law 15/2020 on urgent measures to promote the primary, energy, tourism and territorial sectors of the Canary Islands gave new wording to the LSENPC, enabling the possibility of direct delegation of competence for the environmental assessment of instruments or projects to the autonomous environmental body, introducing a more agile and effective mechanism than the agreement: a direct intersubjective delegation, which only requires a delegation agreement from the local entity and an acceptance agreement from the Government of the Canary Islands.
The accepted delegation falls on the Collegiate Body for Environmental Assessment and Single Report of the Canary Islands and more specifically on one of its Commissions: the Autonomous Environmental Assessment Commission. It is a collegiate body of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Environmental Planning.
So far, 24 delegations of this type have been assumed, divided between strategic environmental assessment of plans and programs and environmental impact assessment of projects (both from city councils and island councils). Another four delegations from local corporations on the islands are being processed.
