Three administrations agree on the urban planning suspension of the refinery lands

The Official Gazette of the Canary Islands publishes the cooperation agreement signed on 20 July 2026 to suspend the validity of planning instruments affecting the land occupied by the Santa Cruz de Tenerife refinery and to establish substantive transitional planning rules. The agreement is signed by the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Island Council of Tenerife and the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and is made public through Resolution of 3 August 2026 of the Directorate General for Territorial Planning and Territorial Cohesion, published in issue 163 of the gazette, of 14 August 2026.

Legal framework and origin of the procedure

The agreement is based on articles 143 and 144 of Law 40/2015, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, and sets out the participation of the Island Council and the City Council in the financing of the suspension document, which the Autonomous Community will process in accordance with article 168 of Law 4/2017, on Land and Protected Natural Areas of the Canary Islands, and the Canary Islands Planning Regulations (Decree 181/2018).

The procedure began in January 2024, when the City Council requested the processing and the Plenary of the Island Council urged the Government of the Canary Islands to initiate the suspension in order to achieve planning in a single instrument aligned with the Santa Cruz Verde 2030 Plan, coordinating the administrations involved and the company CEPSA. Order No. 109/2025, of 14 May 2025, of the Ministry, formally initiated the file.

A century-old industry being dismantled

The refinery, operated by CEPSA, ceased the processing of crude oil due to the impossibility of maintaining the production units in accordance with Complementary Technical Instruction MI-IP 01 of the Regulations for Petroleum Installations (Royal Decree 2085/1994) and Order 12/2014, which approved the Air Quality Plan for the Santa Cruz de Tenerife-San Cristóbal de La Laguna agglomeration for sulphur dioxide. With almost a century of activity, the plant is in the midst of dismantling, although it is planned to maintain the storage and supply of petroleum products through a new hydrocarbon warehouse at the port of Granadilla.

The reconversion of this industrial land, physically contiguous to the city but materially isolated, aims to integrate more than 500,000 m² into the urban fabric of the capital. Municipal planning attempted this in the 1992 General Planning Plan, the 2005 Basic Adaptation and the 2013 Full Adaptation, later annulled; the industrial use was maintained in the island planning, so the agreement also provides for the modification of the Tenerife Island Planning Plan.

Financing, monitoring and deadlines

The initial funding commitment amounts to 650,000 euros, distributed in equal parts:

• Tenerife Island Council: 325,000 euros, under budget line 2026 0341 1511 75000.
• Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council: 325,000 euros, under line 01 R1102 15136 75080.

Transfers must be made within 15 calendar days following the signing. A joint Monitoring Committee, with at least one member per administration, will oversee implementation, resolve disputes, and meet at least once a year. The agreement will have a term of four years, extendable for another four by addendum, and will terminate automatically upon the definitive approval of the suspension.

The agreement secures the resources to draft the instrument that will determine the future of more than half a million square meters next to the Tenerife capital, in an operation combining urban regeneration, ecological transition, and the reorganization of road and rail infrastructure. The transitional provisions will fill the legal gap during the procedure and open the door to the definitive integration of the former industrial land into the city.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 163, Friday, August 14, 2026, Section III. Other Resolutions, pp. 31772-31783 (official reference: Resolution of August 3, 2026, of the Directorate General for Territorial Planning and Territorial Cohesion, No. 2935).