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COUNCIL PASSES BUILDING LAW DESPITE MASS PROTESTS

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Monday January 4 2010



Protesters in front of Santa Cruz town hall


SANTA Cruz council's ruling conservative-nationalist coalition approved a new planning by-law on Monday in the face of mass opposition.


by JAMES TWEEDIE in Santa Cruz


Thousands of the regional capital's residents demonstrated noisily outside the town hall throughout the heated five-hour public meeting, during which each side accused the other of lies, misinformation and “violence” against democracy.


The protesters accused councillors of corruption and serving the interests of property speculators, and demanded a two-month delay in implementing the law to allow for appeals against the process.


The council passed the Plan General de Ordenación 2009 (PGO) unanimously with the support of all parties last year.


It was ostensibly intended to regulate the height of buildings in the capital after decades of planning free-for-all.


But residents became angry when it emerged in November last year that around 30 per cent of Santa Cruz's buildings were fuera de ordenación or outside planning regulations, affecting a staggering 60,000 households among the capital's 220,000 inhabitants.



Lampooned: Santa Cruz Mayor Miguel Zerolo portrayed as Pinnochio 


Angry residents


Toscal neighbourhood Platform Against The PGO spokesman José Antonio Ramos claimed that three thousand people had joined the demonstration on the first working day of the year.


He said that while the buildings – many blocks of flats with multiple owners – were not facing expropriation or demolition, their market value would drop sharply.


He explained: “The top floors of the buildings are not recognised – they do not exist in the plan.”


“The banks will not lend money for repairs. You cannot sell a property out of ordenación and no-one wants to buy.”


Santa Cruz councillor for urbanism and housing Luz Reverón González claimed in a December 30 statement that the resident's problems were simply due to wrongly filled-in forms.


But Mr Ramos pointed to the crowd and retorted: “You can see how many ordinary people are angry.


“They don't know why they are out of ordenación – they have paid all their taxes.


“They have had no time to make declarations. The deadline was in October but they only discovered they were out of ordenación in November.”


Other protesters alleged that the council's ruling Canarian Coalition (CC) – Popular Party (PP) coalition was in the pockets of property developers hoping to snap up cheap properties.


Santa Cruz's residents' associations – under the aegis of the Canarian Confederation of Residents Associations (CONCAVE) – issued a joint statement in support of the plan on December 28, but one protester dismissed them, saying that they always supported mayor Miguel Zerolo.



Sold for a salary: Popular Party council group leader Ángel Llanos


Heated exchanges


The council chamber was packed with members of the public and journalists for the meeting.


In an apparent reversal of political roles, the Socialist Party (PSC) defended individual property rights and prices from the conservative PP, CC and Canarian Nationalist Centre (CCN).


PSC spokesman José Ángel Martín Bethencourt proposed suspending the vote for two weeks to allow for more discussion, but this was defeated by 18 votes to six. Two PSC councillors, Gloria Rivero and Ramiro Cuende, were absent from the meeting.



Santa Cruz councillor for urbanism and housing Luz Reverón González chats to an opposition councillor


The PGO's architect Ms Reverón drew immediate outcry from the public benches when she insisted that the plan had left no home outside of planning rules – asserting that they were already in breach of the pre-existing 1992 Plan General de Ordenación Urbana (PGOU).


She claimed repeatedly that the plan was vital to the capital's recovery from the economic crisis, adding: “We cannot forget that the plan is in the general interest.”


Ms Reverón reiterated her earlier dismissal of criticisms of the plan as “false,” adding that residents' objections to the plan were “illogical and irrational.”


She accused the PSC of agitating the populace against the plan which they had already voted for.


PP group leader Ángel Llanos claimed that his party was only supporting the plan for the sake of the thousands of unemployed Santa Cruz citizens.


CCN councillor Ignacio Gonzalez caused further uproar when he declared that December 28 would go down in history as the “Black Tuesday” when the socialists, “armed with lies,” sabotaged the PGO.


“I reject this violence against a political resolution,” he said. “The PSC do not accept democratic rules.”


Mr Martín responded by accusing the CC and PP of pushing through the vote over the festive season to minimise public participation.


He claimed that the relevant information had been obscured from public view “against the most basic rules of democracy, adding: “The lies and the confusion are not sustainable.”


He further accused the PP of raising the spectre of “red devils” within the campaign against the PGO – which includes the Canarian section of the United Left (IU) coalition – but insisted: “I am red, I am socialist.”


Mr Martín quoted from the council secretary Luis Prieto González' December 28 2009 report on the PGO, which he said showed that property values decreased in proportion to the time spent fuera de ordenación.


He called for a “case by case, resident by resident” review of the planning regulations.


Mayor Zerolo, who chaired the meeting, spoke twice in favour of the plan and threatened several times to exclude the public when they voiced their dissent, prompting some to walk out in protest.



PSC spokesman José Ángel Martín Bethencourt with a fellow socialist councillor


Hostile reception


At 3pm the council voted 18-6 to accept the PGO, with only the four members of the PSC group present and two independents in opposition.


Councillors received a hostile reception as they left the town hall from demonstrators, who vowed to continue their fight.


Asamblea por Tenerife member Candido Quintana said: “The CC, PP and CCN are on the side of the business sector.”


He vowed to take the matter to the Fiscalía Anticorrupción or anti-corruption office, saying that there were millions of Euros at stake for residents.


He said that a further demonstration against the PGO had been called for noon on Saturday January 9 at Plaza Candelaria.


Mr Martín also said that he would be seeking legal advice.


Observing the demonstration from a distance was local resident Tomas Capote, who described himself as an economist and Sheffield university politics graduate.


He was critical of the PSC for waiting seven years before opposing the PGO, of the protest organisers and of his fellow property owners for not ensuring that their buildings were within the regulations.


He said that that values of the buildings in question would only fall “temporarily” and that their owners would have to pay a fee to the council to rectify the situation.


He said that the autonomous regional government should have passed planning legislation “appropriate” to the Canaries.


He added: “What they need is consensus between people to find a solution.”

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