Over two weeks have gone by since the restaurants at Las Teresitas were demolished. They were torn down to prepare for nearby works. Meanwhile, the rubble and detritus left by the demolition crew is a local eyesore and the place is overrun with rats. Cats prowl through the ruins, looking for food and prey, and there is an awful stench from where the restaurant toilets used to be.

The traffic lights no longer work. This threatens the lives of motorists, who are unable to see joining traffic from the Igueste road junction. No wonder the death rate on Spanish roads is three times higher than on UK roads! The roadside clock and themometer display are also out of action.

Services are appalling or entirely lacking. There is no Beach Watch. As a result, people take their dogs on to the strand to crap where they will, and jetbikes break all the rules - posing a hazard for swimmers (there is no tannoy system to warn bathers of the danger). It is obvious that the Local Council is more interested in making a fast buck than it is in looking after beach users. The EU Blue Flag for beach and water quality that now flutters at Las Teresitas is a joke in bad taste.

The island authorities' typical devil-may-care attitude towards Tenerife's natural and historical heritage is evident here too. In this case, the San Andrés coastal artillery battery is the latest casualty of such wilful neglect.

The guns in the coastal battery came from the Cruiser "Navarra", a vessel that was still sailing up until the late 1950s. Shortly before the original Playa de Tras La Arena beach was destroyed to build Las Teresitas, the guns were fired at towed targets as part of naval exercises in the bay.

Fortunately, it has been many decades since the guns were last fired. Nevertheless, the battery is a valuable part of the Island's military heritage and should be resited in the Almeida museum to stop it disappearing under the bulldozers (something that happens all too often to other archeological remains in Tenerife).