Motorsport: First ruling on Tenerife's race track becomes final

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The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal lodged by the Cabildo of Tenerife concerning one of the four sub-projects of the 'Circuito del Motor' racetrack.
This is therefore the first final and binding decision on the project, whilst three further cases are still pending.
The nature conservation organisation ATAN is calling for an immediate halt to construction, the restoration of damaged areas and clarification of who is responsible.

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The Supreme Court has not upheld the appeal lodged by the Tenerife Island Council regarding one of the four projects that make up the Motor Circuit.

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In a ruling dated 30 September, to which EFE has had access, the High Court’s Contentious-Administrative Chamber criticised the local authority for failing to provide sufficient grounds and for the lack of grounds for an appeal to the Court of Cassation, and ordered it to pay the costs.

In a statement, the Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature (ATAN) points out that the Island Council divided the Circuito del Motor into four separate projects and that this ruling by the Supreme Court is the first final decision, against which no further appeal is possible, concerning one of them: the project for ground levelling and the installation of removable grandstands.

Circuito del Motor: Three court cases are still pending

There are three other procedures still pending: the amended project for phase 2 of the northern access road, the adaptation of the Tenerife International Motor Park to the Flood Defence Plan, and the amended project for the speedway.

ATAN points out that this first ruling by the Supreme Court confirms what it has been denouncing for years: that the environmental impact statement for the circuit has expired and that the project «lacks environmental approval and is therefore unlawful».

ATAN is calling for a halt to construction and the restoration of damaged areas

ATAN is calling on the Tenerife Island Council to «immediately halt the works, restore the destroyed land and determine who bears legal and political responsibility».

He argues that «no one» in the island council «can claim they did not know», as ATAN had notified the council’s own technical staff in 2022, during the consultation process; the Ombudsman raised the issue in January 2024, when he warned that the 2016 site survey report may have been a mere formality to circumvent the expiry of the deadline.

The courts of first instance, the High Court of the Canary Islands on appeal and, now, the Supreme Court have also «ruled».

Despite all this, ATAN criticises the Island Council, «both under Rosa Dávila and under Pedro Martín», for having «pressed ahead», despite the initial rulings against them, and for having done so «with a single aim: to create a fait accompli, to destroy the area so that nothing remains, and to bring in the machinery before the final court ruling was handed down».

«It is not a mistake; it is a deliberate strategy of flouting the law, in which the whole island is caught up,» the environmental organisation criticises.