The civic association El sol sale para todos has filed a complaint against the Government of the Canary Islands and the Yaiza City Council for not acting on one of the illegal hotels in Playa Blanca. This is revealed by information published by the digital newspaper Canarias Ahora, disseminated on Monday night.
Specifically, the complaint, initially filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and now with the Arrecife Prosecutor's Office, targets both public administrations for "failing to restore urban planning legality" in the case of Papagayo Arena, formerly Hotel Sandos Papagayo.
The licenses for Sandos Papagayo were granted when the former mayor of Yaiza, Francisco Reyes, authorized thousands of tourist beds outside the law, for which he was sentenced to prison.
The licenses granted by the former mayor gave the green light to the grouping of plots 1 and 2 of the Las Coloradas Partial Plan to build this hotel.
Now, the association El sol sale para todos accuses the Yaiza City Council and the regional Executive of "disobeying firm judicial resolutions and omitting the duty to prosecute crimes." The association insists that the current situation, which "only benefits the hotel," be "resolved once and for all."
In the complaint revealed by the aforementioned newspaper, the complainants insist that this five-star hotel "continues to deprive" the population of access to the beach by closing the complex and eliminating a public road that allowed access to the coast.
In addition, the hotel has more floors and more height than allowed and does not comply with the established setbacks for two separate plots. Although the license was annulled by the Justice system, legality has not yet been restored.
Judicial Background
A judicial order from January 2022 ordered the execution of one of the three judgments that declared the Papagayo Arena hotel illegal for invading "thousands of meters of public land" intended for a road to access the beach. However, the hotel continues to occupy the same land.
In response, in December 2023, the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands upheld an appeal filed by the property and revoked the order issued in 2022, dismissing the demolition of the hotel complex that was requested by the previous Government Group of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
The TSJC also ordered that the "legalization procedure" of the aforementioned hotel, initiated by the Yaiza City Council, be continued.
