Somos has shown its concern at "the absence of political direction and improvisation in the elaboration of the General Plan of Arrecife". The formation recalls that the main motivation put forward to take the PGO to a second approval was the need to agree with some landowners, however, to this day, according to Somos, that idea has been completely discarded.
"The municipal government group raised as a main objective to take the PGO to a new initial approval the need to reach agreements with large landowners. More than a year later, and after several meetings of the government group with these owners, the balance is as follows: 13 agreements were presented, of which only 2 complied with the law, and of those 2 were not informed favorably or unfavorably by the City Council, so finally none was signed. The response of the Councilor for Urban Planning, Samuel Martín, in this regard at the last Urban Planning Commission, was that none will be signed," they say.
"The work of the government group: a failure"
In the opinion of Somos Lanzarote, with an order to Gesplan for the realization of the details of the General Plan, the space in fullness for the work of the government group was limited to the culmination of the agreements with the landowners, however, from the organization they describe the work as very deficient in form and substance.
"We doubted from the beginning the intentions of the government group in relation to the General Plan of Arrecife, we denounced it and we warned: neither agreeing with the landowners was the best initiative for the general interest of the municipality, much less doing it behind closed doors and with total opacity, nor were they going to add to the planning of the city."
"Time has proved us right, the government group has continued in the only process where they had full powers and the result has been an absolute failure both in how they have carried out the process of meetings with the owners, as in the background, with zero agreements to subscribe" argue in Somos.
The Land Law will affect the General Plan of Arrecife
Finally, Somos Lanzarote expresses its fear that this substantial change in the will of the Department of Urban Planning of the City Council, is a strategy to proceed with the approval of Agreements after the final approval of the General Plan. The organization alludes to article 290 of the Preliminary Draft of the Land Law, which deals with Urban Agreements, and which, in the opinion of Somos, would weaken the position of the City Council in hypothetical negotiations, and would leave the municipality in a situation of legal uncertainty in relation to its planning.
"We are surprised by this 180 degree turn, and we are concerned that the intention to agree with the large landowners of the municipality after the approval of the General Plan of Arrecife and the Land Law is hidden. If so, both issues would leave the City Council of Arrecife in a deep position of weakness, and legal uncertainty around its planning and the general interest that should defend" they conclude.
