The Tías City Council has ordered Lanzagrava to "suspend" the "earthworks and exploitation" in a part of the company's quarry in the municipality. This is stated in a resolution of the Consistory, dated June 22, and signed by the Councilor for Urban Planning, Saray Rodríguez, in which it is specified that the General Plan of Tías classifies that part of the quarry as Rural Land for Cultural Protection. Seprona, for its part, has opened an investigation in this regard, to determine if the company could be incurring in a possible crime against land management.
The plot that Lanzagrava exploits in Tías, in the area known as "Las Majadas" and "Corral Prieto", is divided into three distinct zones. In an initial decree dated June 16, the City Council ordered the suspension of the movements and the sealing of all of them, for being exploited "without the mandatory municipal license". However, after the company's allegations, a second resolution determined to "invalidate" the suspension in two of them and maintain it in the third, which is supposedly based on protected land.
That first decree also established the initiation of a file to adopt measures to "restore the disturbed legal order." In addition, it required Lanzagrava to apply for the corresponding license from the City Council within two months of notification.
A few days after that first decree, on June 19, Lanzagrava submitted a letter of allegations to the Consistory in which it requested the suspension of that precautionary measure, "when requesting a license for the extraction of aggregates and exploitation of the quarry for plots A and C".
The City Council maintains the suspension in one area
Thus, Lanzagrava requested permission to exploit two of the zones, but not the third, plot B, on which the suspension still weighs. The reason why the activity in that "plot B" remains paralyzed, according to a report by the City Council technicians attached to the resolution, is that the General Urban Planning Plan of Tías "classifies the aforementioned zone B" as "Rural Land for Cultural Protection, which prevents mining and the exercise of mineral extraction activity".
This is evident in the documentation that Lanzagrava provided in its allegations. Along with that letter, the company presented a resolution from the Cabildo of Lanzarote in which the territorial classification of plots A and C requested by the previous owner of the quarry, Transportes y Excavaciones Nazaret S.L., was approved. However, that same resolution of the Island Corporation denied the classification of plot B "because it is located on Rural Land for Cultural Protection".
Along with these two documents, the company also presented a license granted to Transportes y Excavaciones Nazaret S.L. in 2011 and the request made by Lanzagrava in 2013 in which it communicated the change of ownership in its favor. A request that, according to the technicians, has not been "expressly resolved".
Thus, the technicians conclude that plots A and C are not under any heritage protection and consider that Lanzagrava has "urged the legalization" of its activity in those areas and decide to lift the suspension, "given the damages that the delay in the resolution" of the license may cause to the company. They do suggest, however, maintaining it on the third zone, as established in the resolution signed by the Councilor for Urban Planning.
Seprona investigates a possible crime by Lanzagrava
In parallel to these municipal actions, Seprona has initiated proceedings to investigate "the possible commission of a criminal act against land management" by Lanzagrava. That possible crime could be motivated by the same fact that the City Council's resolution reveals, the "mining activity in a protected space, in this case from a cultural point of view", explain from the Civil Guard.
Seprona, however, is for the moment "collecting information" in this regard and has not filed a complaint. Within these proceedings, municipal reports are incorporated and, in addition, the agents have requested a report from the Cabildo that records the type of land on which the quarry is based. If the Corporation's opinion confirms that Plot B is located on Rural Land for Cultural Protection, a procedure could be initiated against Lanzagrava through criminal proceedings, for a crime against land management.
