In the chessboard that is urban planning in San Bartolomé de Tirajana—the wealthiest tourist municipality in the Canary Islands and home to the crown jewel, Maspalomas—victories aren't always measured in new five-star resorts. Sometimes, success lies in legalizing what already exists.
On March 6, 2026, a decisive step was taken toward the stability of a population center that, until now, had existed in administrative limbo: Lomo de Los Palmitos. The City Council's Environmental Assessment Commission has given the green light to the Strategic Environmental Report for a minor modification of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU). The objective is ambitious in its social implications, though modest in its technical aspects: to recognize and "regenerate" a settlement that has grown organically—or "colonizingly," in administrative terms—to the northwest of El Tablero.
For the Pilancones de Ayagaures Association, which promoted the measure, this agreement represents the end of an era of uncertainty. It's not about building a new city, but about "rebuilding relationships" in an area that is already the permanent residence of hundreds of families who largely sustain the service industry in the south of the island. However, the story of this approval is not without the typical frictions of Spanish bureaucracy.
The report reveals a range of responses from the consulted administrations. The Ministry of Defense, with its usual zeal for airspace sovereignty, initially issued an unfavorable report, citing a lack of time to analyze the impact. The City Council plans to overcome this obstacle by resubmitting the request before final approval. The telecommunications sector has set requirements: any growth in Lomo de Los Palmitos must be accompanied by modern digital infrastructure. By 2026, no rural settlement will be considered viable without fiber optic connections.
Public Health, however, in an almost comical turn of events, was unable to provide information because, they claim, they "could not access the link" to the technical documentation. The secretary of the environmental agency, with a note of frustration clearly recorded in the minutes, clarifies that the link worked perfectly for everyone else and that their attempts at technical support were ignored. The key to the project avoiding the cumbersome standard environmental assessment procedure—which could have delayed the plan for years—is the nature of the soil. Technicians have determined that the area is so "anthropized" (altered by human activity) that there are no significant environmental values left to protect.
This is an area "free of significant environmental obstacles." Since it does not affect the Natura 2000 network or protected areas, the City Council has free rein to regularize the housing and provide it with decent basic services. This move signals that the San Bartolomé administration is prioritizing the consolidation of established rural land over uncontrolled expansion. Regularizing Lomo de Los Palmitos not only improves the quality of life for its residents; it also stabilizes the residential housing market in an area where the pressure from holiday rentals (as seen in the recent IGIC resolutions of February) is displacing the local population to the outskirts.
