It should be obvious that we love Lanzarote – it’s a fabulous island, with amazing weather and it’s full of great people. 2013 was a terrific year for the island, with tourism coming back strongly once again and Lanzarote is really establishing itself as a premier sporting destination.
But we’re not blinkered to some of the problems the island faces. Along with many European countries, we have economic issues, environmental problems and a whole myriad of cultural difficulties, which are exacerbated by the fact that we are genuinely multi-cultural here.
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This post isn’t about listing them all, but it is about focusing on four of them.
And hopefully gaining some support from our 1.5 million readers and 40,000 social media friends and followers to actually begin to effect some small changes. Between us, we have a huge voice and the politicians and business owners on this island listen to us when we speak.
Here’s what we’d like to see happen in 2014:
Demolish all buildings that have been in dispute for 10 years or more
There are so many buildings on the island that have been in a part-completed state for ten years or more, that it would take pages to list them all. Most have been left at the breeze block stage, which means the block has been exposed to the elements for so long that there is no way the building could be completed now without a complete tear down and rebuild.
Bring them down now – by all means continue the various court cases, because even if the land owner eventually wins the case, they’d have to start from scratch anyway. Removing these would take away a complete blight on the landscape of the island, that simply attracts vandals and graffiti artists.
I drove into Costa Teguise the other day from Arrecife and took in the stretch of part-completed buildings on the right of the road, and I was horrified at what so many people must see as they arrive on the bus from the airport for the first time to begin their holiday. Those buildings have been there for 15 years.
Tear them down!
Make Illegal Working Socially Unacceptable
There are still too many businesses on the island who employ staff without contracts and by paying “cash in hand.” They do it to save money, and to make it easy to get rid of staff when they need to. The employers are the only people gaining when they do this – the state loses out on the tax and social security income, and the employee loses out on any potential benefits like health care, pensions, unemployment benefit and any job protection. It also means that businesses who do this gain a competitive advantage over those who stick to the rules – they can charge less because their costs are lower.
To any business owner who justifies this behaviour on the grounds that it’s expensive to employ people here, I’d agree, it is. But they knew that when they started their business, didn’t they? And if everybody paid into the system, then there’d be half a chance that the costs could come down, or at least remain steady.
Change public servant’s attitudes
A whole satirical industry has grown up around the intransigence of Spanish public servants, known as Funcionarios. For years they have had pretty much the ultimate in job security, and as a result many have developed a culture that couldn’t be further removed from the word “service.”
For years, here in Lanzarote, we’ve chuckled about the lady who deals with residency applications at the police station in Arrecife. She’s basically bad tempered, consistently rude and spends most of her time looking for reasons to either deny an application, or to find a way to make another visit necessary. I’ve sat across the desk from her many times, with people who were collectively investing millions into the island, and then told the “funny” stories in the bar that evening.
It isn’t funny any more. People like her either need a major attitude adjustment or they need to be fired. There’s no place for them on an island where we should welcome inward investment.
Grant holiday letting licences
This whole debacle has been going on too long. We need a simple, inexpensive holiday letting licence that anyone can apply for in relation to a property they own here. Charge them €200 a year, inspect the property annually to ensure it meets (reasonable) standards, ensure they pay tax on income earned, and let them crack on.
The argument that this would damage hotel occupancy is complete rubbish. For a start, everyone is doing it already, but most aren’t paying any tax, and secondly anyone who believes that people who would normally choose self catering would suddenly switch to a hotel is being naive. They won’t. They’ll just find another destination.
And while we’re at it, the same applies to the “Anti all inclusive” lobby. Stop AI here, and all you’ll do it lose a huge number of tourists to other destinations that offer AI. They won’t suddenly change their holiday habits to keep coming to Lanzarote.
So that’s it! Let’s hope that at the end of 2014, we can report some progress on these four focus points. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see those grotty buildings demolished, to see the end of people working illegally, to get decent service from public servants and to allow people to let their properties and pay their taxes into the system?
If you agree, then share this far and wide on social media, and let’s start letting people know how we feel.
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