Ciutadella reopens the Born to traffic after 14 and a half months of pedestrianization

PalmaThe City Council of Ciutadella has reopened the Plaça del Born to vehicular traffic this Monday in compliance with the precautionary measures dictated by the court. The decision puts an end to the 14 and a half months in which the space has been pedestrianized and car-free, following the controversial pedestrian zone promoted by the City Council.

Shortly after 7 a.m., the signs prohibiting parking were removed and, in approximately one hour, all available parking spaces were occupied.

The reopening, however, does not imply the exact recovery of the configuration prior to the pedestrianization. The mayor of Ciutadella, Maria Jesús Bagur, has justified the removal of 30 of the 130 parking spaces that existed until July 2025. According to her explanation, there is an “impossibility of restoring the square 100%” to its previous state.

30 fewer parking spaces

Bagur has pointed out that the validity of the traffic and public highway occupancy ordinances, modified to endorse pedestrianization, prevents the recovery of the paid blue zone and the removal of two of the bar terraces that had been authorized.

Thus, the Plaça del Born has recovered road traffic, but it has done so with fewer parking spaces than before the municipal intervention. The execution of the sentence has been challenged by the 22 complaining business owners, so the final decision now rests in the hands of the Contentious-Administrative Court of Palma.

The government defends the benefits of pedestrianization

The mayor has regretted having to reverse the pedestrian zone of the square. Bagur has defended that during the 14 months in which the Born has been without cars, it has been shown that the measure has been beneficial for residents, transporters, taxi drivers, and artisans. “A square like this is made for people and not for cars,” she affirmed.

Despite the reopening, Bagur trusts that the cassation appeal that the City Council filed in June before the Supreme Court will prosper. Furthermore, she has announced that the government team is “studying” a solution that would allow the square to be cleared of cars again “definitively and with all guarantees.” In this way, the City Council maintains the will to recover the pedestrian zone, even though the Born square is open to traffic again while the judicial appeals are being resolved.