Jesús Machín, counselor of Territorial Planning of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, has responded to the Yaiza City Council and points out that currently there is no administrative file in the island Institution relating to the land of Playa Quemada. A response that the council has formally sent, further specifying that the issuance of a legal report on the urban planning situation corresponds to the southern city council, as the competent administration regarding land classification and qualification.
Likewise, it states in its response that the judicial request received in 2023 to determine if the land was rural or developable was not transferred at the time to the competent department, so no report was issued, a circumstance that is part of the background of the file.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, points out that “land management requires legal rigor, clarity of powers, and security for administrations and citizens. The response sent to the City Council places this matter within the regulatory framework and the real background of the file”.
For his part, Machín explains that “urban planning legislation clearly establishes that the classification of land corresponds to the City Council. The situation of the area must be analyzed on a technical basis, in accordance with current regulations and existing judicial pronouncements”.
The counselor adds that “raising scenarios outside the current legal framework could generate unfounded expectations or undue burdens for public administrations, so it is appropriate to act with legal certainty”. Furthermore, he states that “the classification of land is a municipal competence, therefore of the mayor of Yaiza, he should know that it is rustic without any discussion”.
The institutional response explains that, in accordance with current regulations and existing judicial precedents, the land appears to be rustic land, as it is an undeveloped development plan whose effectiveness was extinguished by legal provision.
In this regard, the Cabildo recalls that the 1991 Insular Planning Plan considers these lands as rural land outside population centers, where tourist use is not permitted except for exceptions provided for in the plan itself.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote has conveyed to the City Council its willingness to collaborate and coordinate with the Government of the Canary Islands to facilitate relevant administrative or judicial documentation, within the principle of inter-administrative cooperation, with the aim of contributing to legal and territorial clarity on this matter.