The Governing Council of the Canary Islands approved a budget modification this Tuesday that will allow for the payment of 1.4 million euros in various subsidies to cover safety expenses in bathing areas along the coast in a total of 20 municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, including Yaiza and San Bartolomé.
This file, driven by the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water, responds to one of the commitments made by the Government of the Canary Islands, while negotiations continue to reach an agreement on a new framework for coordinating safety regulations in the bathing areas of the Archipelago.
The municipalities that will benefit from these grants are twenty. Of these, Agaete and Moya are located in Gran Canaria; El Rosario, San Juan de la Rambla, Los Silos, Garachico, and Buenavista, in Tenerife; San Andrés, Breña Baja, Tazacorte, Breña Alta, Barlovento, and Puntallana, in La Palma; San Sebastián, Valle Gran Rey, and Alajeró, in La Gomera; Valverde and El Pinar, in El Hierro; and Yaiza and San Bartolomé, in Lanzarote.
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water, Manuel Miranda, has explained that since the end of 2023, this department has been working with the Canary Islands Federation of Municipalities (Fecam) on a text to replace the 2018 decree on safety regulations in bathing areas, which was annulled by the courts five years later. With this subsidy, the Executive aims to compensate for part of the expenses incurred by the implementation of said decree in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.
The objective of this negotiation with Fecam is to reach a consensus on a new legal framework that allows for "the standardization of safety conditions in the bathing areas of the Archipelago, with total legal certainty," as Miranda explained. Lifeguard groups, the Canary Islands 1,500 Kilometers of Coast Association, and other social agents related to coastal safety are also participating in the dialogue.
The outcome of this dialogue will also be reflected in the future Law of the Canary Islands Civil Protection System, for whose drafting this regional department has completed a first phase of dialogue, in which more than 200 experts and professionals in the field have participated.
