Those affected by the Coasts Law in the Canary Islands celebrate a Supreme Court ruling that annuls a demarcation in the Almeria town of Salinas de Gata, where the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs considered that 100 meters of protection easement zone corresponded instead of 20.
The representative in the Islands of the European Association of those Affected by the Coasts Law and lawyer of the residents of Igueste de San Andrés, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and of Valle Gran Rey, José Luis Langa, announced this Tuesday this ruling by which the High Court did not admit an appeal from the Environment regarding another ruling of the National Court.
In this one, of which Langa could not specify the date although he did say that it was recent, the demarcation is annulled because "it affects a defect of nullity of full right." Thus, the ruling considers that the demarcation goes against article 9.3 of the Spanish Constitution that prevents laws from being applied retroactively, the lawyer assures.
The difference between these 100 or 20 meters of demarcation is that the area that remains inside will be considered a protection easement and the houses are automatically out of order; their owners not being able to do works or sell them. However, being within an easement does not mean that the houses are going to be demolished, as is the case with those that are on the same coast, in the strip called public maritime-terrestrial domain (case of the Cho Vito neighborhood in Candelaria).
Langa's objective is for his representatives to be recognized a demarcation of 20 meters, compared to the 100 that are now proposed. To this end, he has also filed appeals with the National Court. In addition, the residents of Igueste are battling in the Supreme Court because the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) annulled a resolution of the Government of the Canary Islands declaring that the coastal town was a consolidated urban center in 1988.
According to the Coasts Law, in the towns that in 1988 were a consolidated urban center (that is, that had the water supply, sewerage, etc. services, typical of an urban center) the demarcation will be 20 and not 100 meters. In areas such as Igueste de San Andrés, built on a cliff, a 100-meter demarcation would include practically the entire population.
ACN Press
