Opposition to plans to extend the port of Los Cristianos continues to grow among residents of the town centre.
Early summer visitors to the popular resort town will see a noticeably more visible form of protest as of now, with locals donning T-shirts bearing clear messages displaying their anger at a proposal to make the port bigger to handle more traffic.
Residents’ association Vecinos Playeros, which is part of a wider movement created to block the plans, is distributing the T-shirts to its members and to attract new people to join their campaign to halt the controversial plans for Los Cristianos after a project for an alternative port along the coast at Fonsalía seems to have been definitively shelved.
Association chairman Miguel Toledo says the centre of the town cannot cope any more with the traffic congestion, particularly the HGV lorries heading for the islands of La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, which are all served by the ferries operating out of Los Cristianos.
Toledo says locals are opposed to making the port bigger as it would not just add to the traffic but would mean more of the Los Cristianos coast being rendered unusable.
“The lorries would not need to come into Los Cristianos if goods traffic to the outer islands was sent from Santa Cruz rather than here” said the Vecinos Playeros chairman in an interview with the Atlántico Hoy newspaper. As an alternative, the residents would like the underused port of Granadilla to be modified to enable it to take the bulk of the goods traffic.
Along with other members of the anti-extension movement, the association does not rule out taking to the streets for further protest action in the coming months, although it is hopeful that discussions with the various authorities involved will help find an acceptable solution to the current problems posed by the port for those living permanently in Los Cristianos.
