Puerto de la Cruz’s biggest eyesore is, at the same time, the solution to a huge problem: whilst the „Futuro Parque Marítimo“ gives the site a name that sounds forward-looking, the bottom line is that it is a piece of wasteland on the Atlantic coast that has stood unused for decades and has been turned into a large car park. The downside of the site is that it encourages people to dump rubble and park old cars there.
On Tuesday, Puerto de la Cruz Town Hall announced a change in the law designed to resolve problems of this kind in future: a provision to this effect was specifically included in the Official Gazette of the Western Canary Islands in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Leopoldo Afonso, Mayor of Puerto de la Cruz, sees this as „a necessary step towards resolving a situation that has remained unresolved for far too long“. The new law ensures „the prerequisite that clear rules are first established, enabling the service to be provided with all the necessary safeguards“. In other words: the text, which has been under discussion since May, now sets out the legal framework on the basis of which abandoned scrap vehicles may be towed away and disposed of.
Puerto de la Cruz is tidying up its townscape
The mayor of Tenerife’s northern metropolis says that „regulating municipal services also means improving the local council’s ability to respond to the town’s day-to-day needs. In this case, it is about mobility, safety, the use of public space and dealing with situations that directly affect our neighbours“.
The aim is to have clearer rules in future „to bring order to the situation. It is not just a matter of renewing a contract, but of ensuring that a public service vital to the town has clear rules, legal certainty and the appropriate resources to meet the current needs of Puerto de la Cruz“.
The new regulation provides legal certainty regarding the towing away of abandoned vehicles. Until now, it was unclear when such vehicles could be removed and how the scrap cars would subsequently be dealt with. Under the new law, the towing away and subsequent storage of these vehicles are now clearly defined.
The regulation defines a vehicle as abandoned if it has been parked in the same spot on a public road or on land in a public space for more than two months. It also defines the criteria under which a car may be classified as a write-off. This includes the overall impression that the vehicle is incapable of moving under its own power.
Puerto de la Cruz is seeking towing services and will then take decisive action
In such cases, the cars are to be towed away and impounded. Ownership remains with the owner during this phase. The aim is to prevent „a vehicle from being left on public land indefinitely“ and taking up parking space there, says Pedro Antonio Campos, who is responsible for administrative matters in Puerto de la Cruz. Whilst in storage, efforts are then made to trace the owner. Only once specified time limits have expired are the vehicles scrapped.
According to Campos, the legal basis for this had remained unclear for eight years. Consequently, the council was unable to act freely. Now that the law has come into force, the process of awarding the licences is to be finalised swiftly, after which the townscape of Puerto de la Cruz will be monitored „365 days a year“.
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