The City Council of La Laguna has approved the creation of the first Office of Integral Management of the Historic City, a technical body that will coordinate the interventions, services and activities that the different municipal areas carry out in the Historic Site, all in a centralised, more efficient way and guaranteeing the protection of this environment declared a World Heritage City by UNESCO, as well as favouring sustainable development and social cohesion.

This measure is the first step in a broad management and regulatory programme aimed at promoting the safeguarding and dissemination of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the historic complex and the maintenance of its authenticity and integrity, as established in the World Heritage Convention and its Operational Guidelines, reinforcing the effectiveness of management in the face of the complexity and dynamism of this environment.

The Mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, points out that this Office represents “an opportunity to continue advancing in the improvement of the city, coordinating all the efforts for the conservation and improvement of heritage, optimising resources and maximising results”.

“We are acting on a complex and dynamic organism, a living city, where we have to put the resources to avoid gentrification and contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the residents, without compromising the existing heritage values. Moreover, we have to incorporate them into the cultural, social, territorial and economic development of the municipality, taking into account the sustainability of this important legacy for present and future generations”, says the mayor.

The new Integrated Management Office will be supported by the human and material resources of the Historic Quarter Management Service of the Town Planning Department, which “will allow us to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of this department, which has shown great professionalism and commitment to the protection and defence of our heritage”, emphasises the councillor for Cultural Heritage and Town and Country Planning, Adolfo Cordobés.

“With this new resource, which is one of the central commitments that we had set ourselves in the Department”, adds Cordobés, “we will have a body with a high technical profile for the centralised coordination of the management of the Historical Complex, adding this work with the different municipal areas to the work already carried out by this service of the autonomous body (granting of building and activity licences, urban discipline and planning in the area of the historical complex)”.

Among the matters subject to this coordination are the execution of municipal public works (Infrastructure, Housing and Historical Heritage areas), the provision of urban public services (Environment and Municipal Services), the holding of cultural and festive activities (Culture, Education and Festivals), traffic management (Public Safety and Mobility areas), as well as any other municipal competence that is executed or developed in the historic area.

Planning

Adolfo Cordobés, who is also director of the La Laguna Town Planning Department, announced the next steps to be taken by the bodies he heads, which include the drafting of a Management Plan for the Historical Complex that will enable the planning of measures and actions aimed at promoting and guaranteeing the preservation of the city’s significant values.

And, in addition to the recent creation of the Municipal Council for Cultural Heritage, work is already underway on the tender documents for the contract to update the Special Protection Plan (PEP) for the Historic Site.