During the recent debate regarding Oil Prospections in the Canaries I realised the NO to Oil was present in a much more forceful way than the YES to Renewable Energy.

But I am a firm believer that it’s not enough to say what we don’t want in life, but it is also important to search for alternatives. It is in this spirit that I bring to you, in a very brief way two of them that I have recently learn about:

1) Renewable Energy Co-Op

Since October 2014 a group of people have been meeting on a regular basis to discuss the possibility to create a residents co-operative that can both contribute to and benefit from the new energetic model of the island.

The principle is simple:  read more »

The population figures for Lanzarote are recorded on the 1st of January each year, the municipal figures for the last 18 years have been published by Datos de Lanzarote.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)

Lanzarote’s number of residents hasn’t changed much over the last six years, settling in the region of 142,000 people. These population figures relate to those residents officially registered on the Padrón with the local council, as on the first day of the new year.

Although the total population hasn’t changed much, the capital of Arrecife lost approximately 3,500 residents between 2009 and 2013.

There’s actually only a difference of 13 residents or a 0.01% variation in Lanzarote’s population figures from 2013 to 2014.

In 2014 Arrecife’s  read more »

Lots of us over indulge during the festive season, start the new year right and treat your body to a detox and moisturise massage with Angie Appleton in Lanzarote.

Angie is a holistic therapist based in Costa Teguise, her treatment room is located just off Playa Las Cucharas, so you can listen to the waves breaking on the beach whilst you relax. Her January treatment of the month involves a gentle dry skin brushing, followed by a moisturising massage using a blend of Juniper and Grapefruit aromatherapy oils in a base of sweet almond and carrot.

This is a very effective post festivities treatment to help eliminate the build up of lactic acid and toxins within the muscular system. Also, just a great treatment to give bodies a kick-start to prepare for a healthy year ahead  read more »

The Socialist Party in Tías are running a series of workshops to develop their Electoral Programme, ahead of the municipal elections in May 2015.

The meetings will take place at the PSOE Headquarters in the centre of Tías, they are open to members, supporters and the general public. The party would like to understand the opinion of residents regarding important topics including local taxation, tourism, education, health, culture, sports and public services.

You have a chance to air your opinion and proposals at these meetings, it isn’t about listening to what the party have to say, they want to understand your point of view and what you expect from your local council & government. This party are particularly interested in hearing from foreign residents living in Lanzarote, and they speak English.

You don't need to register in advance for these workshops which are expected to last no longer than 2 hours. Everyone is welcome to attend any or all of those workshops which are of interest to them.

Monday 12th January 19:00 Taxation  read more »

We believe we enjoy a pretty sheltered life here, occasionally we are contacted by tourists contemplating a first visit to the island, who want to know “What is crime like in Lanzarote?”

^{Source: Ministerio del Interior. Gobierno de España. Data Provided by: FF.CC.S.E. (Cuerpo Nacional de Policía y Guardia Civil).}

During 2013 the island of Lanzarote had a population of 141,953 people and received over 2 million tourists. To date in 2014 there has been an average just over 1,000 crime incidents a month.

Crime here in general has decreased during 2014 compared to 2013. Drug trafficking has had a marked increase, it’s risen by 46% compared to last year, and car theft is up 9%, all other categories of crime have fallen.

In descending order our  read more »

The Socialist Party headquarters in Tías will open on Tuesdays during December to help foreign citizens register on the electoral roll.

Municipal elections take place across Spain on the 24th of May 2015. As a foreign citizen you can exercise your right to vote for your local mayor, you must be aged over 18 on the election date and be registered on the electoral roll before the deadline of the 30th December 2014.

The PSOE headquarters will be open from 17:00 – 19:00 every Tuesday which started this week on the 2nd and continues throughout December on the 9th, 16th & 23rd.

European Union citizens need only to register on the electoral roll, Norwegian citizens must have a  read more »

Oswaldo, the Mayor of Teguise has published the following information in English to help English speaking residents living in the municipality to register for the forthcoming elections.

Foreign residents must register with their local council before the 30th of December 2014 to have a say in the municipal elections next year. For people living in the resort of Costa Teguise and the municipality of Teguise, help is on hand to register residents who don’t speak Spanish. An English speaking representative will be available in the Costa Teguise office of the Ayuntamiento for the next  read more »