The Trenc is played over up to 74,000 square meters of the protected area

PalmaUp to 74,000 square meters of the protected area of the Trenc-Salobrar de Campos Maritime-Terrestrial Natural Park, specifically the entire area around Les Covetes (see attached map), are in the spotlight and run the risk of becoming unprotected. This is a protection strip that the Pact established in 2023, five years after approving the Natural Park. The owners went to the courts, which have not yet resolved the case, and have pressured the Government to undo the measure. Some sources consulted by ARA Balears confirm that this area is the main reason why Marga Prohens' Executive has decided to simplify the path to retouch the Natural Park, without having to go through Parliament.

Executive sources tell ARA Balears that right now this is not on the table and that, in any case, any decision on a space like Es Trenc would be reviewed in all areas before any decision is made.

Illegal apartments

Among the elements included in this protection strip approved in 2023 are the lands where a historic legal battle was already fought: the 68 illegal apartments of Les Covetes, which for a time were owned by Sebastià Sagreras, the father of the current spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group. Also a series of areas attached to Les Covetes that are used as car parking.

This entire area has been part of the Natural Park's protected complex since 2023, when the Pact approved the Plan for the Ordering of Natural Resources (PORN), and decided that the entire outer belt of Les Covetes, which had been left outside the park like the buildings themselves, should indeed have protection measures.

“If this belt wasn't created, human activity would have systematically entered the park. These are spaces of great value, but they were used as parking lots, as areas for parties, and other irregular activities. By including them in the protection strip, the Administration automatically has instruments to better manage the space and pursue illegalities there,” explains an urban planning expert who advised the Government in processing the park and who requests anonymity.

The fact is that these 74,000 square meters are affected by, practically, the same degree of protection as the Natural Park, but technically they are not part of the park, but rather a peripheral protection zone. Therefore, Marga Prohens and her team are not lying when they state, literally, that they will not cut back on the park itself, declared by the Pact in 2017. The pressures the populars have received have to do with the protected area surrounding Les Covetes.

The delimitation established by Law 2/2017 includes 1,442 terrestrial hectares and 2,338.29 marine hectares. But the conflict that has been straining the park for two years does not revolve around this surface area, but around the regulatory development: the PORN approved in 2023, which significantly expanded the scope of planning and incorporated areas outside the strict park.

When this expansion of the protected area took place, supported by technical reports, at least four owners and the Trenc Neighbors Association went to court.

The appellants maintain that this configuration exceeds the legal framework of Law 2/2017 and that the PORN has introduced a material expansion of the protection regime by regulatory means. In their legal claims, they literally state that “the inclusion of the Covetes transition area implies a material expansion of the park's scope by regulatory means” and that this decision “modifies "de facto the applicable legal regime without express legal authorization”. For this reason, they consider that the delimitation could only be modified by a new law of the Parliament.

This aspect was not shared at all by the Pact Government, which already argued that “the regional and state regulations allow for areas of protection to be established that ensure the surroundings of the park have harmonization zones, because otherwise, human action in areas such as Les Covetes, where there is also leisure and restaurant businesses, occupies and affects the park's biodiversity,” Environment reported at the time.

Legal services, calm

The appeals were filed with the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands and have not yet been resolved. The challenges do not question the declaration of the Natural Park, but rather the way in which the PORN has developed that law and the effects this has on the peripheral protection zone and the land in the surroundings of Les Covetes. Although the legal services of the Environment do not consider them to have viability, the fact is that, as ARA Balears has been able to learn, both the neighbors and two businessmen from the area conveyed to the "top officials of the Government" that they could stop the legal action if the Executive found a way to reform the PORN and, therefore, reduce the protection of the surroundings of Les Covetes.

According to informed sources, the change introduced in Law 4/2026 (the omnibus law) is the result of these pressures, as it introduces a formula for de-legalization that allows the Governing Council to modify the park without needing to go through Parliament, with a simple agreement of the Governing Council.

The surroundings of Les Covetes accumulate a long history of environmental conflicts, beyond the mythical victory of the GOB with the 68 illegal apartments. Restaurants like Noray or bars like S'Embat have often had problems due to the pressure exerted by some clients who occupied unauthorized areas to park. Any protectionist measure, such as the one that included the area within the park's affected zone, does not facilitate parking vehicles in the vicinity, or the possibility of carrying out certain outdoor activities, in the case of concerts.

The PORN approved by the Pact in 2023, and which immediately received administrative lawsuits from neighbors and those affected by the measure, also includes other areas besides the natural transition strip between the urban center of Les Covetes and the park: the environmental restoration area of Les Covetes (where the 68 illegal apartments were built), Freu beach – including the dune system and the boathouses cataloged as a Site of Cultural Interest –, the plots where the old Ca n’Estela school is located and the plots included in the rural land block where the road workers' hut is located, on the Ma-6040 road.

It is precisely this expansion of the planning area that activated the judicial response and pressure on Marga Prohens' Government, which came very shortly after the approval of the Trenc PORN. Among the incorporated areas, the environmental restoration area of Les Covetes stands out particularly, located where for years 68 illegal apartments were built and were demolished in 2014 after a long judicial process initiated by the GOB. With the PORN, these lands are integrated into the park's ecological restoration strategy. “Obviously, if the condition of an area included in the PORN were removed, it would be much easier to carry out certain activities there. This does not mean that one can build there directly, not at all, but certain uses could be made, as happens in the entire area around Les Covetes, where parking is allowed in areas where it is not permitted,” explains an urban planning lawyer consulted by ARABalears, who also does not wish to be identified.

In practical terms, the Government's desire to reduce the transition zone around the Caves would not alter the limits of the Natural Park, but it would make the uses within the peripheral protection zone of the Caves and the environmental restoration area more flexible.

And now, the PRUG

In addition to the PORN, a few months ago the second management instrument for any Natural Park was launched, which is the Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG). According to the Directorate General of Natural Environment, the pre-consultation period opened on February 2, 2026 and ended on March 2. "In total there have been 60 contributions," state sources from the Natural Environment. The corresponding report is now being prepared to collect the contributions, which will be published on Transparency when it is finished and will be public. "We are in the drafting phase of this report and the preparation of the PRUG draft, where the contributions considered appropriate will be incorporated and those that are rejected will be justified for better management of the Natural Park," they assure.

It is planned that, at the end of the year, this draft will be made public for information, so that it can receive the corresponding allegations. But sources consulted by ARABalears recall that the PRUG cannot modify, for example, an area such as the surroundings of the Covetes. For this, an agreement from the Governing Council would be necessary. With the approval of the Omnibus Law, Prohens' Executive will not have to go through Parliament if it finally wants to reduce the protection of the entire area.