The Cabildo unlocks the Ayagaures nursing home with 96 places

The Insular Government Council of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria unanimously declared, in an ordinary session on October 2, 2026, of public and social interest the “Geriatric Stay Center for Elderly People in Barranco de Ayagaures,” in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, promoted by the company Lorenzo Pérez Domínguez, S.L. (DOPESA), with CIF B35046630. The agreement is published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (Boletín Oficial de Canarias) no. 215, dated October 27, 2026, section V (Announcements), in announcement 3708, signed on October 8 by the Government Councilor for Territorial Policy and Landscape, Inés Miranda Navarro. The declaration unlocks a care infrastructure of 96 places for the south of the island and comes after more than three years of requirements, a withdrawal, and an allegation that was finally retracted.

The pronouncement is based on articles 62 and 77 to 79 of Law 4/2017, of July 13, on Land and Protected Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands, and on article 29 of Decree 182/2018, of December 26, which approves the Regulation for the Intervention and Protection of Urban Legality of the Canary Islands. The competence corresponds to the Insular Government Council according to the consolidation of delegations approved on December 2, 2024. The processed file is 25_43013 Centro Geriátrico Ayagaures.

A file with a previous withdrawal

The application entered the insular corporation on February 23, 2023 (registry 2023015049), forwarded by the City Council of San Bartolomé de Tirajana at the request of DOPESA. The chronology collected in the announcement includes these milestones:

• April 24 and November 14, 2023: two requirements to correct documentation within a ten-day period.
• March 15, 2024: Resolution no. CGC/2024/2082, which considers the City Council to have withdrawn due to failure to correct the documentation.
• June 3, 2025: new municipal application (registry 2025043013) to continue the processing.
• December 5, 2025: municipal technical report certifying the requirements of exceptionality, location on rural land, and contribution to rural development.
• March 10 and 12, and July 1 and 9, 2026: technical reports from the Technical Planning and Landscape Service concluding that the action is not prohibited by insular planning.
• September 29, 2026: report-proposal from the Administrative Planning and Landscape Service.

96 places compared to the ten existing

The justification of public interest is based on the care deficit of the municipality, which according to the municipal technical report only has ten places in geriatric centers. The project would provide:

• 96 places for geriatric care services, with an incorporated Day Center.
• 32 direct jobs.
• A ratio of two residential places for every 100 people aged 65 or older in the province of Las Palmas, the lowest in Spain.

The file also cites the extraordinary report of the Ombudsman (Diputado del Común) from May 2022, which estimated 516 people with Grade III dependency waiting for residential care in the Canary Islands and 94 waiting for a place in day-care centers.

Common rural land and constraints

The lands were classified as Non-Programmed Developable Land in the General Planning Scheme of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and, with Law 4/2017, they transition to the Common Rural Land regime. The Insular Planning Scheme of Gran Canaria zones them as Zone Bb3, where healthcare facility use is listed as compatible and where geriatric centers are permitted for new execution if their service area is municipal and they are declared of general interest. According to the agreement, the area presents moderate agricultural value and prolonged abandonment without effective utilization.

The agreement imposes a specific landscape integration section on the project: justification of materials, colors, and volumes; treatment of excavations and embankments; measures for installations with visual impact; and localization criteria to avoid ridges and occupy the least fertile lands. The declaration does not rule on the ownership of the lands: occupation remains subject to what the courts resolve or to agreements between parties, and the developer must prove full legal availability of the land before obtaining the municipal license.

This caution refers to the litigation over registered estate 1161 being pursued in the Court of First Instance No. 4 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana (procedure 334/2023). The allegation presented on April 14, 2026, by Roberto José Gil Miranda on behalf of Pedro Fernando del Castillo Bravo de Laguna and other neighboring owners was withdrawn on June 18, 2026, after an agreement was signed with DOPESA. The agreement is not subject to appeal, according to article 29.7 of Decree 182/2018.

The missing step

With this declaration, the file returns to the City Council of San Bartolomé de Tirajana to continue the processing of the license, a procedure in which the ownership and availability of the lands must be verified. For the south of Gran Canaria, the decision means converting an area of marginal agricultural value into common rural land for a facility that would nearly tenfold the offer of geriatric places in the municipality, in a tourist region where care for dependent elderly people had been identified as a structural deficiency.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 215, October 27, 2026, section V (Announcements), page 38862 (official reference: announcement 3708).