The Ministry of Environment and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands will reduce by 90 or 95 percent the total amount of fines imposed on all homes not covered by a license that are located in the municipality of Tinajo. This was confirmed this Monday in statements made to the Buenos Días program of Radio Lanzarote by the mayor of the Lanzarote municipality, Jesús Machín, after both the head of the government department, the Majorero Domingo Berriel, and the highest authority of the autonomous Executive, Adán Martín, ratified what was stated in private conversation during their recent visits to Lanzarote.
The mayor of Tinajo still distrusts the possibility that a total amnesty will finally occur for the thousands of illegal homes or homes not covered by a license that exist at this time in the Canary Islands. "I would be happy if that were the case, although I'm not clear about it yet," he commented. In addition, he announced that both Berriel and the president of the Government himself were the ones who told him that a modification of the law is going to take place so that all the homes that can be legalized are legalized and that in turn the sanction is reduced by up to 90 percent. "If this solution is applied, it won't be bad, because we could be talking about fines of 100,000 pesetas (600 euros), which can be paid better than what had been imposed at the beginning," he commented, emphasizing that "the same parameter cannot be applied to a man who needs the house to live in as to a man who is building to promote or rent."
However, Machín reiterated that the greatest hope he has, especially to give some characters from the Agency for the Protection of the Urban and Natural Environment rigid and incapable of being sensitive to the authentic human dramas that have been experienced, is that the trials continue to be favorable for the neighbors. Things are still moving very slowly, although the two cases that have already come out of the courts have been favorable to the interests of the residents of Tinajo, ruling against the department of the regional Executive.
La Geria Plan
The mayor of Tinajo once again highlighted his opposition to the Special Plan of La Geria proposed by both the Cabildo and the regional Government, insisting that they have already requested that the information related to this matter be sent from the regional Executive. "The town halls have asked that they send us the document, we are going to analyze it, we are going to meet all of us who are affected and we will make the proposals that need to be made. What is clear is that there are some things that need to be changed," he explained.
Among the changes that he considers fundamental and that affect other localities is that there are entire towns that are left out of the protection of the Special Plan of La Geria, "towns that existed before the law existed." In addition, he believes that a formula must be found for all farmers who are repairing their farms and who are only allowed to use the stone that comes from Teguise, which in his view "has a terrible impact on those landscapes."
Apart from these issues, there is another "big problem" that could be solved through the amendment presented by Domingo Berriel himself to modify the Law of Natural Spaces, since if the Island Territorial Planning Plan (PIOT) does not make specific modifications, no action can be carried out. "The PIOT of Lanzarote has to adapt to the law, although we know that it is a long process that requires appropriate steps. If it is not modified, we will be in a very bad way in Lanzarote," he reiterated.
