What the plan changes for residents and visitors
The PORN is the top layer of planning for the protected area, and every later plan must respect it. Where it becomes concrete is the park boundary itself. According to the documents quoted by Diario de Lanzarote on 14 August, the park would be extended seaward at Charco de los Clicos. A strip west of Yaiza holding the health centre, the football pitch and the helipad would be taken out, as would a built-up area northeast of the village. According to La Voz de Lanzarote and Canarias7, the plan also recognises El Golfo as a consolidated urban core and moves land from "protección natural" to "asentamiento rural".
Four sites studied, two above the threshold
The basis for any future visitor rules is Annex II, the "Estudio de Capacidad de Acogida" for heavily used areas. According to Diario de Lanzarote, four sites were studied: Caldera Blanca, Charco de los Clicos, Los Rodeos–Caldera La Rilla and Montaña del Cuervo–Montaña Colorada. Two exceed their carrying capacity: Charco de los Clicos by 144 visitors per hour, or 597 a day, and Montaña del Cuervo by 136 per hour. No immediate cap follows from this, but an instruction to extend the study to the whole park does. The document names unregulated nature tourism and large-format events, the high density of paths and tracks, and uncontrolled lapilli extraction as pressures.
Approved, published, annulled
On 16 September the notice appeared in BOP no. 111 under order number 3.012. Two days later, in no. 112 under number 3.039, came an "ANULACIÓN DE ANUNCIO": the notice "queda anulado por estar incompleto". It gives the annulled order number as "3.0122" — no such number exists in the 16 September issue; the notice in question carries the number 3.012. The annulment text carries no date, no signature and no registry number. What "incomplete" refers to is suggested by clause SEGUNDO: it orders publication "sin perjuicio de la publicación del Plan y sus respectivos anexos" in the BOP. On 16 September only the decision appeared, without maps or studies.
The count: 15 working days
The clock only starts with complete publication in the BOP, which appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If the corrected text appeared on Friday 25 September, fifteen working days would be counted from Monday 28 September: 28, 29 and 30 September; 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 October; then — 12 October is the national holiday — 13, 14, 15, 16 and finally Monday 19 October 2026. Local holidays do not shift the count: the Order of 6 August 2025 (BOC no. 165) sets 17 February and 24 June for Tinajo in 2026, 7 July and 8 September for Yaiza, and 2 and 17 February for Tías.
Prevalence, the PRUG and the way to court
Once in force, the plan will carry weight. The decision cites article 19 of Spain's nature law 42/2007: where existing territorial or urban planning instruments contradict a PORN they must be adapted to it, and until they are, the PORN's determinations apply "en todo caso". Which use is permitted, authorisable or prohibited where is left to the Plan Rector de Uso y Gestión (PRUG), still outstanding — as with the Montaña Bermeja firing range, which the document says "genera un impacto negativo". Timanfaya National Park, which the natural park wraps around, has rules of its own; the Ruta de los Volcanes there is not governed by this PORN. No administrative appeal lies against the decision (article 112.3 of law 39/2015); a contentious-administrative appeal to the TSJC is possible within two months of publication (article 46 LJCA). Which publication starts that period the text does not say.
A park since 1987, a procedure since 2024
The area formed part of the Parque Natural de La Geria under Canary law 12/1987; law 12/1994 split off Los Volcanes and La Geria. The Cabildo relies on the STS of 20 December 2017: a protected-area declaration made by statute loses its effect where no PORN exists, "la cual se recobra cuando se aprueba el correspondiente PORN". That is the Cabildo's reasoning, not our conclusion. The draft went to public consultation in 2024 (BOC no. 149 of 31 July; BOP no. 9 of 24 July) and drew five submissions. The defence ministry and the Dirección General de la Costa y el Mar reported unfavourably at first, on 18 August and 3 November 2025, and favourably later.