The current Councilor for Land Management, Territorial Policy, Tourism Planning, Classified Activities and Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Jesús Machín Tavío, assured this Wednesday morning on Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero that his idea is "not to make a single [tourist] bed more" on the island.
"I say it loud and clear, and this is something that the president has also conveyed to me, not one more bed on the island of Lanzarote," he insisted. The current island head of Territorial Policy has taken advantage of his intervention in the radio program Buenos días, Lanzarote to explain at what point the drafting of the new Island Planning Plan for the island is, which has been stalled for years.
"My first objective is to reflect the reality that exists, because if you don't reflect the reality you will have continuous problems," Machín Tavío indicated.
Current situation of the Island Plan of Lanzarote
The Councilor for Territorial Planning explained that, with the previous government team at the head of the Cabildo, "in March 2022 everything related to the Island Plan file was rejected in a monographic plenary session, which was in the process of substantial modification".
Thus, he added that, "when we [the current government team] received it, there was no initiated procedure and we had to initiate it again." Already with the project of the new Planning Plan, he revealed that in February "the complete drafting of the Island Plan will be commissioned".
To speed up the procedures, the Island Council of Lanzarote has advocated for the creation of its own environmental body. "We are going to shorten the deadlines a lot, because before we would queue in the Government of the Canary Islands and there are 88 municipalities, Cabildos and others," he explained. According to Jesús Machín Tavío, the own environmental body will be composed of technicians from Lanzarote, "who know the reality of the island".
At this point, he wanted to highlight the singularities and differences of the island of volcanoes with respect to other Canary Islands when drafting its Planning Plan. "We live with another mentality, from the spirit of César [Manrique]," he stressed during his intervention on the air.
In this sense, he indicated that the own environmental body is composed of five people, plus two alternates and that, in addition, it will establish "a list of ten more people, to give it agility". This environmental body plans to have architects, quantity surveyors and environmentalists. In the particular case of environmentalists, he hopes that, at a minimum, there will be two.
Although he has not committed to offering definitive deadlines, Jesús Machín Tavío has emphasized that he hopes to "have the first scope document of the Island Planning Plan in June". Meanwhile, he added that the drafting will not be put out to tender, but that the Cabildo itself will be in charge with the help of the public company Gesplan.
Rebuild and convert
Jesús Machín Tavío has been open to rebuilding and converting existing buildings, but rejects the increase in beds. Regarding the concrete skeletons that still remain on the island of Lanzarote, he has insisted on demolishing and reaching agreements with the owners of the consolidated land in the 1991 Planning Plan that are not yet built, to look for other options than the construction of more beds.
The island councilor is in favor, even, of declassifying tourist land to avoid this growth. "From my point of view, I speak very personally, we are interested in the less the better," he outlined.
In this line, he has insisted on the importance of reaching agreements with the owners of the land where more tourist places could be built. "They are acquired rights that they have," he pointed out. In this sense, he has added that he is in favor of the Cabildo itself assuming the cost of demolishing the buildings that require it in exchange for "restoring the disturbed order".
Conflict between tourist, residential and vacation places
In the drafting of this new Island Planning Plan, the Cabildo of Lanzarote plans to address the problems in the complexes that combine vacation homes, tourist apartments and residential properties. "In Puerto del Carmen there are many fewer beds than are reflected, because there are many beds that have been converted into residential," explained the councilor.
"I have requests in the department to unsubscribe, which I cannot, because the law says if it is given whole, it is removed whole," Jesús Machín Tavío narrated about the withdrawal of tourist licenses from properties that are currently used as residential within complexes.
Regarding vacation homes, the Councilor for Planning of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, has revealed that this plan must be "in line" with how the regional law is being drafted. "It is going to be restrictive, especially in stressed tourist areas. I have to wait to see what it says and if not we will have to establish different criteria," he added.
In this line, he has highlighted that the vacation home "in the end is a home that is being used touristically but that is being used fraudulently. Many are not registered, to be registered you have to have many conditions: habitability certificates, license and then when visiting them they do not meet the conditions," he concluded.
"I think it's a good idea that we buy complexes dedicated to tourist exploitation," added Jesús Machín Tavío, to dedicate them to residential use. "This year more was allocated for purchase than for construction, because we fulfill a double function: you remove touristically, if we want to decrease, you do not consume land and you dedicate it to public housing," says the Councilor for Territorial Planning, Territorial Policy, Tourism Planning, Classified Activities and Culture.
To conclude, Jesús Machín Tavío, has also spoken about the roads projected on the island of Lanzarote. "The less territory we consume, the better. From my point of view, tensions that exist on the roads can be solved without consuming more land," he inquired.
"The more natural we leave what remains, the better it is for everyone," he said.
