The president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, reiterates that the island Institution does not grant urban planning licenses nor authorizes the construction of tourist establishments, and has asked the PSOE to stop conveying to the public an incorrect interpretation of the agreements adopted in the Governing Council.
“The truth is being disregarded. The Cabildo does not grant building permits nor does it decide what is built. That is an exclusive competence of the city councils,” the president pointed out, who insisted that the approved files correspond to regulated procedures for tourist classification.
Betancort explained that these administrative procedures are subject to regulations and do not respond to discretionary decisions. “When a project meets the established technical requirements, the administration has the obligation to process its classification. That does not mean authorizing its execution or increasing places by political decision,” he affirmed.
The president stressed that there is a clear difference between the tourist classification of an establishment and the granting of urban planning licenses. While the former is a regulated regional procedure, the latter corresponds to the city councils and is what enables, where appropriate, the execution of projects.
Furthermore, Betancort recalled his management at the head of the Teguise City Council, where measures were adopted aimed at reducing accommodation capacity in Costa Teguise through the declassification of beds and the change of use from tourist complexes to residential.
“In Teguise, action was taken on the existing model, reducing beds and reorienting spaces towards residential use. These are documented decisions,” he pointed out. Facing this, he pointed directly to the socialist management in other municipalities like Tías and stressed that “those who today make these criticisms are the same ones who are granting licenses for new hotels from the town halls.”
“Lanzarote needs a serious debate, based on data and on the knowledge of the competencies of each administration. The rest generates confusion,” concluded Betancort.