The island councils expressed this Thursday their support for the reform of the Land Law and the future sustainable mobility law, with the exception of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, which has sent a letter to the general commission of the Parliament of Canarias expressing its rejection of these changes being approved when only a few months remain before the dissolution of the Chamber.
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Manuel Miranda, has indicated that the Land Law is an "effective tool" but that it must be "adapted" to the new regulations that have emerged in recent years, with the aim of reaching a text with "greater legal certainty" and that is "more understandable, clear and simple". Along those lines, he detailed that the deadlines for issuing reports are cut in half and that the goal is to "contain" the expansion of developable land.
Miranda has highlighted that the current law has allowed 250 municipal planning amendments and more than thirty changes in the island planning instruments. Now, "the main ideas" include the prohibition of classifying new land, the streamlining of permits, and a more precise definition of the figure of administrative silence.
The Vice Minister of Infrastructure, Francisco González, has explained that the new mobility law comes to fill the absence of a system that organizes the different planning instruments in this area, also putting the focus on the "environmental" aspect linked to transport. He added that it is necessary to "advance in the digitalization of mobility data and improve transparency and public participation", highlighting the "high degree of maturity and acceptance" of the text, in whose drafting the island councils have had broad participation.
The Minister of Water, Education and Youth, Primary Sector and Waste of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Adargoma Rodríguez, has defended that the reform of the Land Law was "necessary" and that the island councils must "participate" and see the "planning" of each island respected. However, he has shown his disagreement with "large projects being able to be exempt from urban planning permits and being able to be carried out despite disagreements with the planning", alluding to initiatives in the audiovisual sector.
Rodríguez has also demanded that agricultural and livestock activity be safeguarded against the implantation of waste or energy-generation infrastructure. "Fuerteventura does not say no to renewables, quite the contrary, it says yes, but in an orderly manner, respecting the landscape and the primary sector," he stressed. Regarding the sustainable mobility law, he has valued the participatory process and the fact that the cabildos take part in planning, taking into account the particularities of each island territory, and has called for the implementation schedules to be specified.
The vice president of the Cabildo of La Gomera, Adasat Reyes, has backed the review of the Land Law to correct problems and "simplify" procedures, although he lamented that reviews of the plans drag on for years and become "outdated". In relation to projects of island interest, he acknowledged their "usefulness" for attracting investment, but insisted on the need for greater "coordination" with the town councils.
Reyes has also expressed his support for the sustainable mobility law in Canarias, but has asked that it not focus only on "roads or transport services," but rather include accessibility, territorial cohesion, and the specific reality of each island.
The second vice president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, José Miguel Ruano, reproached the table for the accumulation of two matters on the agenda, although he valued that the Government has undertaken the update of the Land Law, a "complicated task". He defended that projects of island interest be "strategic" and processed outside island planning, opening the door for them to be allocated to the construction of public housing. In addition, he rejected the criticism from the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, warning that if the processing is halted, two years of work will be lost.
Regarding the sustainable mobility law, Ruano has asked to "better clarify" the division of powers between the Government of Canarias and the cabildos. For her part, the spokeswoman for the Socialist Group, Nayra Alemán, has indicated that the reform of the Land Law will be in force for the next twenty years and, therefore, has called on all political forces to reach an agreement out of "responsibility" to postpone approval to the next legislature.
Alemán has called to "debate well" the future norm and to listen to all the sectors involved, in order to encourage a "deep and serene" debate and devote to it "the time that is necessary".