Following the declaration of the Hotel Oriental as an Asset of Cultural Interest, the Popular Party in the Cabildo of Lanzarote has accused the PSOE of making "an abusive use of the BIC", and of acting with "bad faith, stealth and treachery" and even "bordering on prevarication". "Because it has been done knowing that there was a prior license," said the spokesman, Jacobo Medina.
This Tuesday, the PP councilors in the Cabildo, headed by Jacobo Medina, have criticized in a press conference that the Cabildo has resorted to "initiating files to declare an Asset of Cultural Interest, once the owners have presented the project to rehabilitate or restructure properties and have obtained a municipal license".
"Therefore, from this moment on, any possible intervention or use that is going to be developed in the property, or in its protection environment, must be previously authorized by the Island Council", the populars emphasize.
The populars have denounced "the trickle of decrees of the President", which they say have occurred in recent weeks. From the PP they assure that the Cabildo "initiates BIC files to a dozen assets and spaces", such as "the street market of Calle Real, in Arrecife; the surroundings of the Church of San Marcial in Femés; the Farmer's Monument; the Taro de Tahiche or the Cactus Garden itself, with all the area of affectation that includes each of them and that affect urban homes and plots".
According to the populars, the application of BIC, the least flexible protection figure, will cause “irremediably the heritage ends up falling due to the innumerable requirements that are established for its exterior and interior conservation”.
“In the end, the requirements end up becoming insurmountable obstacles for individuals who do not always have the necessary economic resources to undertake rehabilitation projects that go beyond the exterior facades,” explained Jacobo Medina.
“What a public institution cannot do is treat the owners of these houses or buildings as if they were heritage terrorists and raise protectionism to levels that make the recovery of these properties unfeasible due to the high economic cost that this entails,” denounce the populars.
“You cannot go the easiest way, which is hyperprotection, when the law establishes several levels of protection and you can be more flexible, so one begins to wonder if the Heritage area could be being used for speculative purposes or interests,” said Jacobo Medina.
The populars criticize the "administrative obstacles" that the Cabildo puts
The councilor also referred to the problems that the Arrecife City Council has had, and that has denounced the Arrecife City Council itself, "to fix, for example, the fountain of the Ramírez Cerdá Park or the gardens of the park itself, by subjecting Heritage its adaptation to a global rehabilitation project of the entire space, or the year that the consistory has been waiting for the approval of a shade project in the commercial streets of the city".
“These situations border on the absurd and are just some examples, the most recent, because the truth is that it is a very serious problem, which affects practically all the municipalities of the island to varying degrees,” added Medina.
“Heritage is protected by acting and not putting obstacles and letting it fall,” said Jacobo Medina, who stressed that “you cannot be putting obstacles to each of the files nor can the political will be to permanently torpedo instead of collaborating”.
In addition, the populars have asked this Tuesday the government group of the Cabildo "to do their homework and comply with article 39 of Law 11/2019, of April 25, on Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands, which establishes that the island Cabildos must prepare the corresponding Island Catalog of Cultural Heritage Assets established by the aforementioned norm". A catalog that the populars assure that the cabildicio government "has not been able to approve in these almost three years of government".
The PP denounces "obstacles" to the opposition
The councilors of the Popular Party also criticized "the obscurantism of the socialist government with respect to the files that have to do with the Heritage Area" and have accused Dolores Corujo of "obstructing the work of the opposition by refusing to provide the information that is requested, in this specific case, the file relating to the Hotel Oriental".
From the Popular Party they advocate for a "pact for heritage". "Where heritage values go from being an obstacle to an added value, where commercial uses and rehabilitation can be made viable, where heritage is profitable, seeking a point of balance, of cooperation between institutions and individuals", detailed the populars.