The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has annulled a provisional urban planning ordinance that regulated holiday rentals in Granadilla de Abona. The court ruled that the regulation should have undergone a strategic environmental assessment before approval. The opposition party argues that this decision does not invalidate the underlying principles of the regulation.
According to Jennifer Miranda, the former mayor and leader of the opposition, both external advisers and the municipality’s own technical and legal services had previously deemed the environmental report unnecessary, as it only pertained to existing buildings. However, the court clarified that local authorities lack the authority to make this determination independently; it is the responsibility of the environmental body. The ruling described the environmental impact of the regulation as “minimal.”
The now-defunct regulation aimed to make Granadilla the first municipality in the Canary Islands, and one of the first in Spain, to restrict holiday rentals in favour of residential use. The local PSOE party noted that the ordinance limited holiday rentals to single-family homes, ground-floor properties with direct public access, or first-floor residences with independent entrances.
Despite the court setback, the PSOE maintains that the regulation served as a model for other administrations, describing its overall effect as “highly positive.” Miranda claimed that in the year and a half it was in force, applications for holiday rentals plummeted, leading to an increase in available rental homes.
In light of this new legal situation, Miranda has called on the local government—comprised of Coalición Canaria, VOX, and a member of the Popular Party—to explain what steps it will take to prevent tourist rentals from disrupting the residential market. She has urged the municipal government to immediately activate a dedicated team of inspectors, stating that “the main challenge now is to identify and remove all illegal holiday rentals from the market.”
