Natural Environment detects works within a protected area of Cala Carbó without an environmental report

IbizaThe Department of Natural Environment has detected that some urbanization works authorized by the Sant Josep City Council enter into a protected area of the Natura 2000 Network, in the Cala Carbó area, without the mandatory environmental report having been processed.

The works are being carried out on Carrer de ses Serretes, at the edge of the Cap Llentrisca-sa Talaia Special Area of Conservation, and include the upgrading of roads and sidewalks, as well as the installation of sewage and public lighting systems.

An Environmental agent inspected the works last Thursday and noted that the path of the sidewalk alternated stretches of urban land with others included within the Natura 2000 Network. Given this situation, the Department ordered that work continue only in the urban part until the corresponding reports are available.

The Sant Josep City Council, however, maintains that the works comply with the granted license and that there is no irregularity. From the City Hall, they point out that there could be some discrepancy between the Natural Spaces cartography and the municipal one.

The project is promoted by the Ses Serretes de Cala Carbó Residents' Association and is based on a license granted in 2002 to provide the area with infrastructure. Those actions were only partially executed and were never formally accepted by the City Council.

The legal representation of the developers maintains that the works affect an already existing sidewalk and pipeline and that they are being executed at the municipal request. They also admit that there are a few meters where urban land and protected space overlap, but they assure that Natural Environment has only asked them to prove that the action does not damage the area or the vegetation.

Several residents of Cala Carbó, on the other hand, denounce that during the works pine and juniper trees have been cut down within the protected area and question that a project approved more than two decades ago is being developed now. They also assert that they have not been able to consult the documentation in detail, despite having requested it from the City Hall.

These residents link the works to future luxury residential projects in the area, an interpretation that, for the moment, has not been confirmed by the City Council or the developers.