The President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, accompanied by the Councilor for Territorial Policy of the Island Institution, will publicly present the Initial Strategic Document of the Special Plan for the Protected Landscape of La Geria next Monday, March 18, at 6:00 p.m., at the Farmer's Monument.
"With this document, we give a great boost to the instrument that will organize and regulate the agricultural development of this protected space. From the Cabildo, we have also launched the environmental evaluation body that will allow us to shorten the deadlines for the approval of the Advance," according to the President of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote awarded the preparation of said Plan to the public company Gesplan last August for an amount of 355,259 euros; a document that advances in parallel to the beginning of the legal file of the aforementioned planning, approved at the beginning of October in the Island Government Council.
Throughout the month of October, the draft of the document was submitted to citizen participation through a public consultation on the Cabildo's website and was updated with suggestions from citizens and contributions from the agricultural, wine and Cabildo of Lanzarote sectors.
It will be submitted to environmental assessment
"From now on, the Ordinary Strategic Environmental Assessment (EVAO), the technical and legal reports will be prepared and it will be submitted to the Cabildo plenary for later having an initial document or Advance that will also be submitted to public information and consultation," says Jesús Machín, Councilor for Territorial Policy.
This document, which is still in an initial phase and which is expected to be definitively approved at the end of 2026, is an planning instrument that values the landscape, the wine culture of La Geria and the work of the farmer throughout history in this space, for the preservation of a traditional and respectful form of cultivation with its natural environment, with the aim of making it sustainable over time.
The document will regulate the public use of the space with respect to agricultural, environmental and recreational activity; and intends to reduce agricultural abandonment with measures that encourage the sustainability of the vine, protecting the traditional typology of the crop, establishing measures against irregular extractive activity and regulating permitted buildings with the aim of maintaining traditional typologies, in addition to meeting the needs of the resident.
The 'Special Plan of La Geria' aims in this sense to end the impact related to the presence of outdoor steel tanks of the wineries, while a study will be prepared for the possibility of establishing a public sanitation network that provides service to the facilities that exist in that protected space. As well as the planning of existing tracks and roads and the establishment of conditions for overhead power lines.