The president of the Cabildo, María Dolores Corujo, announced during the State of the Island Debate that in this legislature “two essential ordinances” have been drafted for the preservation, planning and protection of the Territory.
The first, aimed at establishing the criteria for standardizing the use of renewable energies to make the generation of electricity through photovoltaic and wind installations compatible with the preservation of our main asset, the landscape. “This will make it possible to authorize the installation of photovoltaics on land, always linked to self-consumption, while preventing large generation parks of all kinds until the ideal locations for them are determined,” she said.
On the other hand, the second ordinance regulates the practice of camping, “providing a legal framework for the thousands of people who enjoy this practice.”
The president reported on the work carried out with Gesplan to respond to the allegations presented to the Plan for the Management of Natural Resources (PORN) of the Chinijo Archipelago. Corujo informed that this regional body “has been entrusted with both the drafting of the PORN of the Volcanes Natural Park and the updating of the Special Plan for the Protected Landscape of La Geria, which needs to be adapted to the Land Law and the Protected Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands of 2017.”
Regarding the Island Territorial Planning Plan, the president explained that “the drafting work of the new document, which does not invalidate everything processed to date, will be carried out in parallel with substantial modifications of the current one to advance certain decisions. In that sense,” she informed, “we are taking the necessary steps to approve the Guidelines for the Planning of Agricultural Land and the Regulations for the Use of Agricultural Land.”
“Likewise,” the president advanced, “a Special Territorial Plan will be drawn up to strengthen the determinations of the ordinances for standardizing the use of renewable energies.
In the field of Industry, the president highlighted “the transition that the Cabildo of Lanzarote is promoting towards a more sustainable energy model through countless projects that aim to materialize this transformation both in the public and private spheres.” In this sense, the president recalled that in 2020, 45 subsidies were granted to promote solar thermal energy for a value of 43,000 euros, and 138 grants for photovoltaic installations for a value of 190,000 euros.
Likewise, “the Cabildo has planned 8 photovoltaic installations in schools and public buildings with the capacity to generate 104.6 kilowatts.”
Improvements in waste management and treatment
María Dolores Corujo explained that since the beginning of the legislature, the team led by Councilor Hugo Delgado has paid special attention to three lines of work. “The planning of waste management through a plan of measures aimed at achieving the objectives established in terms of reuse, recycling and reduction of waste; the provision of infrastructure, with projects such as those that will allow the construction of a composting plant in the Zonzamas Environmental Complex, for 2.5 million euros, and a Clean Point in Tinajo, and the adaptation and improvement of existing treatment processes, which we will undertake with a budget modification worth five million euros, which will be allocated to works and interventions, and one million two hundred thousand euros to acquire equipment.”
Regarding the Zonzamas Environmental Complex, Corujo pointed out that “in the medium term we must undertake the drafting of the projects to finalize the sealing and closure of cell number 2 and consolidate the internal slopes, as some landslides have occurred.”
“We are now facing one of the most immediate challenges, which is the collection of biodegradable resources from kitchens and restaurants, the fifth container or brown container,” said the president. “Anticipating the regulations, we prepared a technical-economic study for the provision of the island service for the collection of these bio-waste, which, to date, has only had the support of the municipalities of San Bartolomé and Haría.”
Consumption, crafts and commerce
“Obviously, these have also been areas very affected by the pandemic but which have had a very good response to the exceptional measures we adopted to favor reactivation,” said Corujo.
At this point, the president recalled the line of subsidies worth twelve million euros from own funds aimed at self-employed workers and SMEs, from which 3,546 people or companies have already benefited, to whom a total of 6,234,500 euros has already been paid, and the launch of the Consume Lanzarote project together with the Government of the Canary Islands aimed at reactivating local commerce and reinforcing its digitization and modernization. This last line has benefited 215 establishments that have received a total of 258,000 and promoted a total expenditure of 300,000 in these establishments.
With the aim of reactivating commerce, the president recalled “the enormous effort made in the execution of Open Commercial Zones, such as those of La Marina de Arrecife, Porlier and Sopranis or Hermanos Zerolo”. “In this line, she informed that the Cabildo will program the annual payments worth 1.4 million and 2.6 million euros destined to activate the projects of the Varadero open commercial zone and Avenida Papagayo.”
Similarly, the president warned that the First Institution is prepared to carry out a modification in the Zonal Plan that allows “to manage and respond to changes in mobility and consumption habits that may occur after the opening of the new shopping center in Altavista.”
“The Cabildo has maintained its commitment to the Island Craft Fair, also attending to the demand of the craft sector to favor direct sales, so two samples of local crafts have been held in Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca.”
The Catalog of Craft Manifestations of Lanzarote and the launch of the Lanzarote Craft Center, “a personal commitment of the area councilor, Carmen Guadalupe”, are other milestones highlighted by the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote during her speech in the State of the Island Debate that is being held in Jameos del Agua.
