Lanzarote En Pie believes that the meeting held by the Arrecife government group with residents and business owners of the municipality, to report on the situation of buildings with “heritage character” in the vicinity of Calle Real, only served to “confuse and misinform even more about the issue of the historical and cultural heritage of the city."
LEP states that “the lack of rigor” in the information provided by the mayor, Astrid Pérez, who was accompanied by the councilor of Urban Planning, Eduardo Placeres, and the mayor's advisor, Ignacio Herrero, “is not typical of a government team that wants to guide the course and project a city that develops with all the guarantees.”
“We believe that information has been provided in a biased manner and without knowledge of the current legal context regarding the Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands, as the mayor has demonstrated by stating that the castles of Arrecife are not Assets of Cultural Interest, when they have been since 1949,” says LEP councilor Leandro Delgado, who adds that another example has been “announcing the mandatory paralysis of urban licenses granted to other properties in the area as a result of the initiation of a BIC.” "It demonstrates a total ignorance of current legislation,” he points out.
Lanzarote En Pie believes that Astrid Pérez's statements during the meeting were intended to “worry and startle the owners”, rather than to provide “accurate information and resolve doubts.”
“The continued assertion that the Popular Party maintains about the paralysis of the city's urban development by using the tools to protect its historical heritage is not true. On the contrary, providing it with historical sites and cultural spaces will allow it to grow in urban quality, generate economic activity and improve the perception of citizens about the capital,” adds Delgado.
LEP points out that one of the examples of the municipal version's "bias" is Astrid Pérez's statement that the City Council “was forced to grant the license to the property located at Calle León y Castillo 37, former Hotel Oriental, as a result of a court ruling, when the reality is that justice only obliges the Arrecife City Council to conclude the file.”
“The initiation of the BIC of the Hotel Oriental is the result of the precautionary measures taken by the Cabildo of Lanzarote after the Arrecife City Council granted the property a license to demolish the interior of the property,” adds Delgado.
In this regard, the councilor does not understand “why the City Council itself did not propose the adoption of precautionary measures”, given that it had received letters from the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Lanzarote in 2019 and 2020, “warning of the values of the property and the need to include it in its catalog”. Likewise, the councilor highlights that the Inspection of the Government of the Canary Islands sent a letter “requiring that precautionary measures be adopted, as established by Law 11/2019, of April 25, on Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands, in its articles 17 and 59.3, respectively.”
Lanzarote en Pie proposals on municipal heritage
Finally, Lanzarote En Pie recalls that its political group in Arrecife presented several proposals regarding municipal heritage.
They point out that the first of these was requesting the “elaboration and updating of the municipal catalog of cultural heritage assets of the Arrecife City Council”, based on the criteria required by Law 11/2019, of April 25, on Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands.
LeP explains that the second consisted of demanding “the initiation of the necessary procedures for the partial modification of the General Plan in force of the Arrecife City Council to include the assets included in the BOP number 110 of August 28, 2013, in the municipal heritage catalog.”
Thirdly, the formation requested “the partial modification of the municipal catalog of cultural heritage assets of the Arrecife City Council”, currently in force, to include the technical sheet relating to the property located at Calle León y Castillo, 37, that is, the Hotel Oriental.
“Pretending to build a city on the foundations of lies and confusion is condemning it to immobility and stagnation. Actions and measures based on tricks that skirt the law will end up sinking and burying the urban projection of Arrecife,” concluded Leandro Delgado.