Manuel Fajardo is confident that the Tourist Inspection will seal off the Papagayo Arena Hotel, imploring equality between the poor and the rich before the law

The Yaiza City Council accuses the Cabildo of maintaining an illegitimate crusade against the tourist municipalities

Pedro Hernández, who does not foresee its demolition due to the absence of someone to indemnify a posteriori, accuses Honorio García Bravo of granting the urban planning license before having the prior authorization of the Ministry of Tourism

August 19 2005 (00:14 WEST)
The Yaiza City Council accuses the Cabildo of maintaining an illegitimate crusade against tourist municipalities
The Yaiza City Council accuses the Cabildo of maintaining an illegitimate crusade against tourist municipalities

Photo:

Javier Fuentes

Official sources from the Yaiza City Council expressed their discomfort this Thursday at the resolution decreed the previous day by the First Island Corporation against the opening and operating licenses of the Papagayo Arena Hotel, in Playa Blanca.

The appeals presented by the Cabildo against several hotel establishments in the Playa Blanca area, as well as the resolution itself, were described by the City Council as a "crusade undertaken by the Lanzarote Island Council against the tourist municipalities of the Island".

The Corporation, chaired by José Francisco Reyes, considers that the Cabildo "will need in any case to revise the regulations", since it is "relying on the supposed legality of a rule that has been annulled by the courts". And the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has issued about eight resolutions that invalidate the so-called moratorium.

Therefore, they said they were unaware of "the legitimacy adopted by the Cabildo and its legal services when undertaking actions against the city councils", since there are several court rulings that invalidate the second moratorium of the PIOT" (Island Territorial Planning Plan).

"When it came to carrying out the famous modification of the PIOT, the Justice understood that no administrative viability document with an economic-financial nature was provided," they pointed out. For this reason, they described it as "surprising" that the Cabildo insists and persists in its "particular crusade".

Fajardo trusts in Inspection

For his part, the accidental president of the Cabildo, Manuel Fajardo, who described these alleged urban irregularities as "of absolute gravity", was very confident that the Ministry of Tourism "will act accordingly".

Fajardo assumes that the Tourist Inspection will take the case to its ultimate consequences with the upcoming sealing of the Papagayo Arena Hotel. "The law is for everyone," he stated. "Everyone must answer for their own actions, I am convinced that as soon as Councilor Manuel Fajardo Feo verifies this case, the Ministry of Tourism will take the measures that need to be taken," he specified.

The accidental president recalled that if a ruling orders the demolition of one of these establishments, the Cabildo must request the execution of that ruling. "Let the promoter who risks continuing to build knowing that there may come a day when it has to be demolished," he exclaimed.

Fajardo also announced that the file has also been brought to the attention of the Directorate General of Coasts, a state entity from which "another spectacular edge of this case" will emerge, he concluded.

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