San Andrés Castle faces abandonment and occupation

The Castillo de San Andrés has become the latest flashpoint in Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s long-running struggle to restore a landmark it has been promising to recover for years. Residents and the local PSOE said on May 13 that the coastal fort in the Anaga district is showing clear signs of neglect and irregular occupation, renewing pressure on the city government to secure the site and move ahead with a stalled rehabilitation plan. The dispute has drawn attention because the fort is a protected heritage asset and because the city has already missed earlier deadlines tied to outside funding. (eldia.es) Santa Cruz officials had said in 2024 that a revised project was being finalized and could be approved within months. ### Why is the condition of the castle drawing attention now? May 13 was the date residents and the PSOE in Santa Cruz publicly warned that the Castillo de San Andrés was in a state of abandonment and subject to irregular occupation, according to local reporting cited in the preliminary card materials. That intervention landed against a backdrop of repeated municipal pledges to restore the site that have not yet produced visible works. San Andrés is not an ordinary vacant structure. (eldia.es) The city council identifies the Torre de San Andrés as a Bien de Interés Cultural, or BIC, and says the monument was declared a historic-artistic monument in 1949, with its protected boundary set in 1999. ### What exactly is the Castillo de San Andrés? The Santa Cruz city council says the Castillo de San Andrés was erected in 1706 as part of the island’s coastal defenses. (eldia.es) The fort, in the village of San Andrés near Las Teresitas beach, formed part of the defensive system that also figured in the failed 1797 attack by British Admiral Horatio Nelson on Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The same municipal heritage material says the structure is now in ruins after centuries of damage from floods, runoff and storms, including episodes recorded in 1740, 1769, 1826 and 1894. (santacruzdetenerife.es) The fort was disarmed in 1878. ### What restoration had the city promised? July 2020 was when Santa Cruz formally opened a competition for proposals to recover the fort and its surroundings. The city said at the time that the monument already showed “a strong state of deterioration and abandonment” and that the project was meant to answer a long-standing neighborhood demand. (santacruzdetenerife.es) November 2020 was when the city presented the winning concept, centered on a low-impact intervention, greater visibility, improved accessibility and a visitor center. The municipality said then it would invest more than 160,000 euros in drafting the execution project. April 2023 brought a fuller cost estimate. Diario de Avisos reported that the rehabilitation and surrounding works would be split into two phases, with 1.8 million euros for consolidation of the fort and reurbanization of the area, and more than 3 million euros for a visitor center and adjoining pedestrian zone, for a total close to 5 million euros. (santacruzdetenerife.es) ### Why has the project still not started? March 2024 was when El Día reported that Santa Cruz had lost 1.7 million euros in European DUSI funds for the Castillo de San Andrés and the Hacienda de Cubas because the works had not been completed by Dec. 31, 2023. (santacruzdetenerife.es) Carlos Tarife, the city’s planning official, said administrative processing had prevented the projects from meeting the deadline. Tarife said the original castle project could not be approved because it failed to comply with some aspects of existing planning rules and with one condition needed to obtain authorization from Spain’s coastal authority. (diariodeavisos.elespanol.com) He said the drafting contract had to be modified and that the city expected final approval of the new document within three or four months, after which it could tender the works. May 2024 brought a similar message from infrastructure councillor Javier Rivero. (eldia.es) He told Diario de Avisos that the city was focused on the Castillo de San Andrés and intended to approve the reform project that year, after narrowing the scope to make it more realistic in light of technical reports. ### What is at stake in the latest complaints? The city’s own documents show Santa Cruz has for years described the castle as both a heritage asset and a neighborhood demand. (eldia.es) That makes the latest warnings about neglect and occupation politically sensitive, because they point to a gap between the site’s protected status and its current condition. (diariodeavisos.elespanol.com) The next concrete milestone remains the same one city officials identified in 2024: approval of the revised rehabilitation project and the subsequent tender for works. Until that happens, the Castillo de San Andrés will remain a protected ruin with a funded, redesigned and repeatedly delayed recovery plan still waiting to move from paper to construction. (eldia.es) (santacruzdetenerife.es)