The Justice has sided with the San Bartolomé City Council and has rejected the appeal filed by the Lanzarote Water Consortium, which intended to avoid paying a fee of 254,678 euros for the installation of a wind farm in the Montaña Mina area, between this municipality and that of Arrecife. The ruling, issued on April 30 by the Contentious-Administrative Court Number 1 of Las Palmas, thus declares "adjusted to law" the resolution of the Consistory, which issued that settlement and rejected the first appeal filed by the Consortium, through Inalsa, before the City Council itself.
Along with this lawsuit that it has lost in the first instance, the Water Consortium initiated another one for a second wind farm that it intends to create in the same area, in this case entirely on San Bartolomé soil. For that second park, the City Council claims a fee of 516,977 euros, which the Consortium also opposes, which initiated another lawsuit that is pending judgment, and one more for the 225,000 that San Bartolomé claims for the 'Consortium Water Substation 20/66 KV and LAT 66 KX SE Water Consortium-Callejones', necessary for the development of the wind farms that are intended to be installed on the northwest slope of Montaña Zonzamas.
Regarding the first one that has been resolved and in which its claims have been dismissed, the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, has already announced that he will appeal the ruling. "The Lanzarote Water Consortium continues to consider the fee that a City Council intends to charge for a park that has not yet generated a cent of a euro and from which it will benefit economically, because it is a member of the Consortium, an exaggeration and an outrage, and also an abuse compared to other city councils that are also going to have wind turbines on their land and do not plan to charge this urban planning fee, since the Law allows the exception when it comes to projects of general interest, as is obviously the case," he states in a statement.
Accuses the mayoress of "lack of political will"
In addition, San Ginés "regrets the lack of political will of the mayoress of San Bartolomé to exempt the Consortium of which she is a part from this fee", since he maintains that it represents "a clear brake on the development of wind farms, on rustic land that did not bring anything to the San Bartolomé City Council and for which it will already receive fees stipulated in an agreement".
According to the president, San Bartolomé's failure to waive the fee to which it is entitled, which amounts to a total of 1,150,987 euros, "puts at risk not only the economic viability of the change in the energy model, which is being undertaken by the Consortium, but even the intention to socialize energy and share the benefits with citizens".
Regarding the content of the first ruling that has already sided with San Bartolomé, the statement sent by the president of the Cabildo maintains that the Court "does not enter into the merits of the claim" and "only considers that it is not adjusted to law" because the first appeal against this fee before the City Council "is presented one day later than the deadline". In this regard, he anticipates that the Consortium will allege in the appeal that they were notified "late", since he affirms that the City Council delivered the notification to Canal Gestión Lanzarote, "a company that has nothing to do with Inalsa, which is the company that owns the park".