The Urban Planning Department of the Santa Brígida City Council, headed by María Lozano Lordán, is working on the first correction of errors in the General Planning Scheme, approved in 2019. This document is crucial for the municipality's urban planning decisions.
The primary objective is to review the planning documentation and correct material, factual, or arithmetic errors. Since the revision work began in early August, approximately 100 errors have been identified. These corrections are expected to be completed between October and November of this year.
Correcting an error does not involve altering the fundamental meaning of the General Plan but rather rectifying mistakes made during its development. These errors can include misplaced figures, incorrect references, mathematical inconsistencies in surface areas, mistakenly copied urban planning codes, or graphic elements that do not align with the actually approved determination.
“"In these cases, if the expediente documentation clearly demonstrates the approved intent and that the problem occurred solely during its transfer to the final document, rectification can proceed. Simply put, if the Plan states something different from what was actually approved due to a transfer error, we can correct that error. If the intention is to change what was approved because we now believe it should be different, then we are no longer talking about an error, but about modifying the General Plan."
The Urban Planning Department is individually analyzing each potential issue, reviewing original expediente documents, approval agreements, technical documentation, and plans to determine what was truly approved. Canary Islands Law 4/2017 permits the rectification of such material errors without needing to process a modification procedure, provided it is genuinely an error.
Concurrently, a second phase is being prepared to process minor, non-substantial modifications. The ultimate goal, as indicated by Lozano Lordán, is to achieve urban planning that is "clearer, more updated, and with greater legal certainty." This initial correction will improve the application of the Plan, enabling residents, property owners, and municipal technicians to operate coherently with current urban parameters, thus avoiding confusion or misinterpretations stemming from the detected flaws.
