A number of around thirty individuals are awaiting the municipal licence allowing them to build their homes in Cho. The Arona City Council has not granted the necessary authorisation for between four and seven years, as the area has not yet been registered by the Council. This situation arises from the public company and developer, Gestur Canarias, failing to cede the obligatory 10% of land use to the local authority in 1986. It has resulted in a situation of “urban blockage” lasting over 40 years “without any solutions being offered by the responsible institutions”.
Ulises Bendala, one of those affected, explains that they are facing a case of “absolute institutional paralysis, with residents unable to obtain major work licences on urban land, despite paying taxes and receiving municipal services like everyone else in the municipality.” They have observed over the past three decades that the Arona City Council has granted licences for as much as up to 60% of Urbanisation Zone 2 in Cho. Currently, this situation affects around 100 families, many of whom have mortgages and stalled projects, unable to build or legalise their homes.
The residents purchased the land “without knowing that it was not registered.” In fact, on December 4, 1986, Gestur registered the process of handing over the urbanisation to the Council, which was assumed following the administrative silence rule. This consists of consolidated urban land, with streets recorded as municipal property, in an area that receives public services (lighting, rubbish collection, maintenance, etc.), “but where the Council refuses to resolve work licences, not even formally denying them, due to the urbanisation not being registered. It is an administrative paradox that violates basic rights,” claim the affected parties.
Local Government Fails to Comply
Last April, the Mayor of Arona, Fátima Lemes, “publicly committed, in front of more than 30 residents, to seek a solution.” As spokesperson for the group, Bendala highlights that “the then Councillor for Urbanism, Luis García,” was present at that meeting, attributing to him that “for months he offered empty explanations, without moving absolutely anything, until he was replaced last February.” Regarding Javier Baute, the current area councillor, he states that “he told us six months ago that he would resolve the issue, but nothing has happened since.”
This group of residents seeking to construct their homes in Sector 2A of Urbanisation Zone 2 in Cho faces another obstacle: “Gestur Canarias completely washes its hands of the matter. It refuses to issue reports unless formally requested by the City Council, which has not done so for over 40 years.” This “deliberate omission” blocks any avenue for resolution, “while hardships continue for families and small property owners who legally purchased plots decades ago.”
The residents were astonished to learn about a similar situation that occurred nearby in Urbanisation Zone 5 of Cho, which ended up in the judicial system. The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) issued two rulings between 1991 and 1995, upheld by the Supreme Court (TS), which rejected the public company Gestión Urbanística de Canarias SA (Gestur)’s argument of viewing administrative silence positively. The Supreme Court pointed to the requirement for transferring the 10% land use in that urban development. The residents are puzzled as to why the Arona City Council does not pursue legal action in their case, despite such precedents in favour of the administration.
“The institutional silence, the prolonged political abandonment and the passivity of a public company crucial to the source of the problem” leads residents to consider approaching the Prosecutor’s Office “to report potential crimes of prevarication by omission, due to the deliberate failure to resolve requests; misappropriation of public funds for commissioning and neglecting a report funded by public money; and administrative discrimination for not offering thesecitizens the same guarantees and rights as the rest of the municipality.”
The University Report
On July 29, 2024, the Arona City Council awarded the Fundación de la Universidad de La Laguna a contract worth 14,980 euros to prepare a legal-urban planning report on Urbanisation Zone 2 of Cho. This was received two months later, “but has never been included in the file, nor has payment for the invoice been processed, as we have confirmed.”
Despite persistent requests, the residents do not have official access to the report compiled by Professor Francisco Villar. They are surprised that legal advisors are still refusing to sign work licences in this area and that the Council ignores the three potential solutions suggested by ULL, according to the affected parties.
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