South east Tenerife industrial area in chaos after Canarian Supreme Court judgment

[Janet]

It wasn't so long ago that Jaime González Cejas, mayor of Granadilla, was celebrating the fact that all obstacles to the megaport, both technical and legal, had been resolved (link). Unfortunately, or for some very fortunately indeed, there was an issue so large that, like the proverbial elephant in the room, it was invisible.

The Tribunal Supremo, the highest court in the Canaries, has ruled that the Tenerife Cabildo and the Canarian Government illegitimately usurped national constitutional urban planning powers in their approval in 2008 of the entire Plan Territorial for south Tenerife, which covers some 2,500 hectares of industrial land in Granadilla. This area includes the Granadilla industrial estate, as well as the proposed southern airport expansion, the planned electricity and gas plants along with the two desalination units ... and the megaport itself.

The Canarian Supreme Court's judgment was given in favour of the environmental group ATAN (Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza), which says that it is delighted with the result, and that it is now going to seek the nullification of all plans for the various approved projects incorporated into the Plan Territorial since previous Court rulings were predicated upon the assumption that the approvals had been legitimately granted in the first place.

Some will be delighted by the environmentalists' win; others will despair - whether at the loss of profit so long foreseen and almost within reach, or at the failure yet again of the authorities to follow procedures properly and above board. One thing is nevertheless clear: the new ruling leaves the plans for the whole of the south east coastal area in chaos. JA

[poker]

What a mess they made for a quick profit these Tenerife Cabildo and the Canarian Government (leaders ? ) .

And to think some of this this industrial land has been sold to companys for over 1000 € per square meter .......

No wonder there is no industry nor industrial jobs here .

[Nova]

Think they might learn now that corruption doesn't always pay? 

[Janet]

There are going to be some very very irritated "investors" around. I wouldn't want to be a politician in Granadilla, or in the planning departments of the Cabildo or the Gobierno, right now ...

... nor in Arona, come to that ...

they're all bloody at it ...

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

If I was an environmentalist I'd be wearing a bullet proof jacket.  There will be some mightily pissed off corrupt politicians around.

[Perikles]

What on earth do the conservationists want to conserve? The area is hideously ugly. An industrial estate would be an improvement.

[Janet]

And the Courts have agreed with you, at almost every step. The environmental arguments have been roundly defeated. That the greens have won is an utter irony because it's based on the technicality of procedure ... but a big technicality.

The Cabildo has issued a statement this afternoon. It's wordy, and I reckon they know they've messed up bigtime ... this is from any number of local papers ...

El Cabildo de Tenerife ha iniciado un análisis "riguroso" de la sentencia del Tribunal Supremo que anula el Plan Parcial de la Plataforma Logística del Sur de Tenerife, y ha anunciado que subsanará las deficiencias detectadas por el Alto Tribunal. La corporación señala en un comunicado que se han realizado los trámites pertinentes de forma "rigurosa" en la elaboración del plan, hasta el punto de que estuvieron "sometidos" al control de legalidad realizado por la Cotmac, "que dio su visto bueno para su posterior aprobación por el Gobierno de Canarias". En esa línea, señala que la elaboración del plan ha supuesto un "gran esfuerzo" de recursos y medios ya que se trata de una ordenación territorial "muy compleja" y un procedimiento que persigue la "transparencia" y la "participación" para ordenar un ámbito territorial de "enormes oportunidades" para la competitividad de la isla. Según el Cabildo, el Plan Territorial Parcial de la Plataforma Logística del Sur de Tenerife tiene una "gran importancia estratégica" ya que está enclavado entre las dos grandes infraestructuras de comunicaciones con el exterior. Respecto a la vigencia de las determinaciones de ordenación, destaca que una parte importante se han tenido en cuenta en la adaptación del PGO de Granadilla al planeamiento insular, por lo que estima que la "importancia estratégica" de desarrollo de ese ámbito está "contemplada" en las determinaciones que figuran en el planeamiento de desarrollo vigente.