Pablo Yebra, spokesperson for the Local Committee of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) in San Bartolomé, expresses his concern for the quality of life of the residents of the town of Playa Honda, considering that they have been suffering a series of negative externalities without receiving any positive compensation for years.
He refers, for example, to the proximity that the town maintains with the César Manrique airport, an infrastructure that generates numerous noises and high pollution for the residents. Thus, Yebra comments that "there are scientific studies that show that living near an airport increases the risk of hypertension, diabetes and dementia due to the smoke from airplanes in a ratio of up to 20km", imagine, continues the Canarian spokesperson, "in a town that is practically attached to the runway and where the ultrafine particles expelled by the aircraft engines directly fall".
Another of the grievances that the residents of Playa Honda must endure for NC-bc is the passage of the LZ-2 highway and its detour to the industrial area. This, according to the Canarians, "generates a high concentration of cars, traffic jams and pollution that also determine the well-being of the population." Thus, he recalls that "the cause-effect relationship between arteriosclerosis and exposure to the smallest solid particles emitted mainly by car engines, in addition to lack of sleep and respiratory damage, has been demonstrated."
"It is unquestionable that the LZ-2 is the road with the highest traffic density on the island, which passes directly through Playa Honda. It is logical that having a highway with so much traffic together in a town of 10,000 inhabitants cannot be beneficial for anyone, and we do not consider that the solution is a new highway to consume more territory, but other more sustainable and clean modes of collective mobility," says Pablo Yebra.
They also point to another factor such as the shortage of affordable housing for rent and purchase. According to the Canarians, the erratic urban planning of Playa Honda has meant that the town is going from residential to tourist, with the consequences that this has for lifelong residents and for those who are in long-term rentals.
"Vacation homes extend throughout Playa Honda, small businesses close to make way for businesses adapted to tourism, the native resident is increasingly displaced from their own environment, and this town that a few years ago was an opportunity to live quietly with your family is distorted," says Pablo Yebra.
All in all, these are some of the negative externalities that, according to NC-bc, are degrading the quality of life of the residents of Playa Honda, which are added to a deficient urban mobility; lack of shade and environments for recreation; police insecurity; deficient waste collection, or pollution to the sea derived from sewage that is discharged to the beach and that generates bad odors."
"Playa Honda needs a specific plan for the town that projects the Playa Honda of the next decade. The residents deserve that for all the negative externalities they suffer, they are compensated with better public services," says Pablo Yebra.
