Friends of the Earth Mallorca has rejected Palma City Council's project to replant 36 trees to replace the beautiful shade trees that were cut down in Plaça Llorenç Villalonga, arguing that there has been no genuine participatory process. In a statement, the organization lamented that "what should have been a participatory process has been limited to meetings with affected groups, both neighborhood associations and environmentalists, but nothing more." In their opinion, there has been no consensus because most of the suggestions and proposals put forward by these groups have not been incorporated. According to the environmentalists, the most represented species in the project (with 12 trees), the fruitless white mulberry, is significantly inferior to the beautiful shade trees that were felled.

The Palma City Council will plant 36 trees, including olive, holm oak, and mulberry trees, to replace the beautiful shade trees it cut down in Llorenç Villalonga Square. This is the final proposal presented this Thursday by the Councilor for Infrastructure, Accessibility, and Industrial Parks, Belén Soto, at the Palma Verde Roundtable meeting. Representatives from various organizations, political parties, and neighborhood associations were present at the meeting. The proposal, according to a statement from the City Council, is the result of several meetings held with the Balearic Tree Association (ABA); the neighborhood associations of Calatrava, Canamunt, La Lonja-Born, La Seu, and Calatrava-Montisión-Santa Clara; and the Association for the Revitalization of Historic Centers (ARCA). The City Council analyzed the proposals and incorporated some, such as the restoration of existing trees, changes to the species, and the replacement of certain trees.

The Platform in Defense of the Beautiful Shade Trees, made up of various neighborhood associations and environmental groups, has welcomed the Palma City Council's opening of a dialogue, although it has demanded "concrete commitments" and an "effective change" in its approach. Sources from the platform emphasized this point in reference to a meeting with the Councilor for Infrastructure, Accessibility, and Industrial Parks, Belén Soto, which took place last Tuesday following numerous requests from the organization. During the meeting, the City Council presented an initial replanting proposal, which the platform will now analyze and discuss, with the aim of reaching a consensus on a solution that will allow for the recovery of the environmental, social, landscape, and heritage value of the square after the felling of the water hyacinths.

The Palma City Council's renaturalization plan for Plaça Llorenç Villalonga calls for the replanting of 35 trees. This represents an increase of 10 trees compared to the square's original tree population. These 35 trees will be added to the 6 palm trees already existing in the square, bringing the total to 41 trees, according to the city's proposal. The pruning of the beautiful shade trees in December 2025 sparked a great deal of controversy, mainly due to complaints from neighbors..

Residents of Palma and the citizens' platform in defense of the beautiful shade trees will continue their protests to demand accountability from the Palma City Council (Cort) for the felling of 17 trees in Plaça de Llorenç Villalonga. "We will not stop," affirmed Nina, a member of the Canamunt Neighborhood Association. They also announced plans for further actions to denounce "the unnecessary mass felling, the refusal to take a less drastic approach, the lack of transparency, the absence of citizen participation, and the speed with which the felling was carried out," among other things, explained the president of the La Calatrava Neighborhood Association. The residents requested an urgent meeting with the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martinez, to initiate a dialogue and halt any similar actions to those taken in Plaça de Llorenç Villalonga. Citizens are accusing the City Council of violating the Organic Regulations for Citizen Participation by failing to provide them with reports detailing the poor condition of the trees and by rejecting the alternative proposals they submitted to the council to avoid removing the trees. The coordinators of the initiatives have not specified the nature of the activities because, they believe, "the element of surprise is very important." With these demands, the citizens intend to ask the City Council a series of questions that challenge and question its actions. "Were 17 diseased trees planted in a year and a half? Why, if the trees posed such a high risk of falling, wasn't the plaza closed to traffic during the massive festival for the town's patron saint or during the wine fair held in the Parque del Mar?" Navarro asked.

The Platform in Defense of the Bellasombra Trees, made up of various neighborhood associations and environmental groups, will denounce the Palma City Council's "manipulations" regarding the felling of 18 trees in Llorenç Villalonga Square. They will do so at a press conference to be held next Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at Can Alcover, the platform announced in a statement. The purpose of the event is to publicly denounce the "manipulations" contained in the press conference held by the Palma City Council to explain the reasons for the tree removal, the "complete lack" of genuine citizen participation, and the "serious irregularities" in the announced participatory processes.

Residents' associations in the Calatrava neighborhood have expressed their strong opposition to the felling of the beautiful shadows of the Plaza de Llorenç Villalonga They have criticized the lack of conclusive technical reports justifying the action taken by the Palma City Council. In a statement, they assert that, at present, no documents have been provided that clearly demonstrate either the condition of the trees or the need for their removal.

The Palma City Councillor for Infrastructure, Accessibility, and Industrial Parks, Belén Soto, has denied that there were any economic interests behind the felling of the beautiful shade trees in Llorenç Villalonga Square, as some residents claimed during their protest outside the City Hall on Tuesday against the municipal initiative. Some residents also suspect that the City Council cut down the trees to increase the visibility of the hotel located in the square or to allow the establishment to install terraces. In this regard, Soto clarified that she has not met "with anyone" and considered the residents' suspicions to be something they themselves "created." She also asserted that "from the outset, we have acted with complete transparency and have informed the Palma Verda Roundtable, a forum for dialogue where all political parties are represented, in addition to various neighborhood associations and organizations." Similarly, Soto emphasized that "removing the trees was the last resort," but justified the decision by stating that Cort had to implement it because "there was a high risk and the only viable alternative was their replacement." Meanwhile, the head of the Infrastructure and Accessibility department, Urbano Sánchez, criticized the fact that at the Palma Verda Roundtable, "no one" criticized the municipal institution's initiative except for the Amics de la Terra association. Along the same lines, he justified the City Council's failure to provide the residents with the technical reports supporting the tree removal, stating that Cort "has always been convinced that the explanations provided were sufficient." Furthermore, Soto noted that after the Roundtable meeting, Cort met with the residents again to discuss the issue. Sánchez explained that in Palma "there had already been previous incidents of branches falling from beautiful shade trees," a problem that began in 2009 in Llorenç Villalonga Square and also in other parts of the city. "After the first warning," he added, "the following incidents began in 2017, one on September 13 of this year, when a fracture occurred at the crown—the point where the trunk branches to form the canopy—and another on November 21, when the tree had to be cut down due to a storm," noting that "the weather is particularly harsh on the trees in this square." A few years later, "at the end of 2023, and after a systematic and rigorous evaluation of these trees, the felling of five specimens of beautiful shade trees was proposed." Then, they recalled, "the Balearic Tree Association filed an injunction, which the court ultimately rejected, ruling that the explanations given by the City Council and the priority of public safety justified the action, and the felling of five trees considered to pose the highest risk proceeded. There's still more to come. "One of them, in August 2024, a year later, also gave way at the branches," they added.

Around fifty neighbors – equipped with pots, cheese graters, trumpets and wooden spoons, among other utensils – staged a pot-banging protest against the felling of the beautiful shadows The residents of Plaça Llorenç Villalonga, Palma, have expressed their suspicion that the city council cut down 18 beautiful shade trees due to the "risk of falling," as the council claims. Instead, they suggest there are "economic interests behind it," given the hotel located just a few meters from the square. Edita Navarro, president of the La Calatrava Residents' Association, pointed out that "the Health Department is creating problems for businesses trying to install shade structures under these trees because of the fruit they produce." This raises suspicions among residents who link the tree removal to the intention of building a terrace overlooking Plaça Llorenç Villalonga, "the last major square not dedicated to the terrace business," she emphasized.

The recent felling of several beautiful shade trees in Palma has generated strong controversy among residents, green space professionals, and environmental organizations, who question the technical reasons justifying what they consider an excessive action. Several experts doubt that the removed trees presented serious pathologies or a state of deterioration that would have made radical felling necessary, and they demand greater transparency regarding the reports and prior studies.

Residents of Palma have called for a pot-banging protest in front of the City Hall to protest the felling of 18 beautiful shade trees in Llorenç Villalonga Square.

Conservation organizations such as Palma XXI and GOB will not attend the meeting of the Municipal Climate Cycle Commission as a gesture of protest against the destruction of the arboreal group of the bellasombras of CalatravaPalma XXI considers this action to be "an unprecedented act of extreme violence" against Palma's natural and urban heritage, and laden with "deeply worrying symbolism, absolutely incompatible" with the democratic, environmental, and cultural values ​​that should guide public action. GOB Mallorca will also not attend the meeting of the Municipal Climate Cycle Commission, thus joining the protest announced by other entities, such as Palma XXI, against the destruction of the Bellaombras de la Calatrava woodland. GOB sources consider this action to be "an extremely serious and absolutely unjustifiable act," from an environmental, heritage, and social perspective. "We are facing a direct attack against Palma's natural and urban heritage, carried out with a violence incompatible with the democratic, environmental, and cultural values ​​that should guide any public action, especially in the context of a declared climate crisis," they explained.