Residents of Los Silos protest over pools closed for 6 years
Residents of Los Silos, frustrated by six years of inaction regarding the closed local swimming pools, are planning a protest on April 27 to demand their reopening.
The residents of Los Silos have been unable to use the local pools for 6 years and do not understand why the city council is silent. Therefore, they decided to protest on Saturday, the 27th, at 10:00 AM to force the General Directorate of Coasts to reopen the pools.
Participants will gather at 10:00 AM in La Luz Square. From there, they will proceed along El Olivo Street to the roundabout at the entrance to the town. They will linger there for a while so that other people can join them. Then the column will move to the TF-42 highway, pass through the roundabout again, then along Félix Benítez de Lugo Street, and end its route in La Luz Square. It all started with a "We want a pool" sign on one of the houses, and gradually more and more people joined the initiative, wanting to be heard and for the problem to be solved once and for all.
They have also created a website, www.queremospiscina.com, where they have already collected over 1,100 signatures. The goal is "to help solve the problem and show the authorities how much it hurts the city when something important is taken away from it."
The land on which the pools are located belongs to the coast guard, and they may be demolished because they are in the coastal zone. The permit to use them expired in 2018, and the then authorities (PSOE) did not manage to renew it in time. Since then, various governments have tried to restore the pools, but have faced bureaucratic obstacles as powers have been transferred from Madrid to the government of the Canary Islands.
In June 2019, the coast guard informed the local authorities (CC-PP) that a new permit needed to be applied for. All the necessary documents were submitted. But, despite expectations, the state department refused to extend the permit for another 30 years, as it plans to demolish the pools and restore the coast to its original appearance. At the same time, the city council was ordered to carry out repairs (repair the cracked pool bowl, install new boilers and modern pumps) at a cost of over 365,000 euros. The municipality received a "temporary" permit from the Tenerife Coast Guard for these works, while the application for a new permit was being considered.
In 2023, after a change of powers, a request was submitted to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands for a temporary permit to open the pools in the summer (from June to the end of September). But it was rejected.
The answer was: cases opened by the coast guard in Madrid are also closed in Madrid.
In August last year, the PSOE-USP government applied for a new permit to the General Directorate of Coasts and the Marine Space Management of the Canary Islands (which is now the responsible body) for the construction of a wave-protected bathing area.
The application was submitted for 30 years. The city council presented a new project for the reconstruction and adaptation of the area, which envisages the integration of the pool into the coastal environment, turning it into an open, environmentally friendly and accessible area. It is also planned to make the bathing area public and free, improve access and entrances, connect water for flushing filters and draining pools to the sewage system, and obtain permission to consider an appeal in the National Court.
The government group (PSOE-USP) supports any protests by residents in support of the restoration of the pools. "Residents have expressed their dissatisfaction and disagreement with the current state of the pools. We believe that these protests are entirely appropriate and offer residents all the necessary opportunities for participation and cooperation so that the voice of the residents of Silos is heard in the Autonomous Administration," said Mayor Carmen Luz Baso in a press release.