The Council will not reduce the capacity for tourist growth nor the pressure on rustic land

PalmaLlorenç Galmés admits that Mallorca "has reached the limit and cannot grow anymore", but he will not modify the main territorial and tourist planning instruments that the Council has to curb this growth. This is the contradiction that GOB and Terraferida have pointed out after meeting this Thursday with the island president at the Royal Palace. The entities left with a clear conclusion: "The feeling is the same as we had with Marga Prohens".

The meeting turned into a ping-pong between the containment measures claimed by the Council and the demands for structural changes raised by the environmentalists. Without agreements on any of the five major issues addressed, GOB and Terraferida consider that the institution is not willing to modify with sufficient depth the planning instruments that could allow a change of course in Mallorca.

The meeting is part of the round of contacts of GOB and Terraferida with the presidents of the main institutions of the Balearic Islands. Representing the entities were the president of GOB, Joan Moranta; the vice president, Tonina Siquier, and the representative of Terraferida, Maria Orts. On behalf of the Council, Galmés was accompanied by the Minister of the Presidency, Toni Fuster, and the Minister of Tourism, Guillem Ginard.

The organizations wanted to convey to Galmés the social outcry that has taken to the streets this summer to demand limits on Mallorca's territorial and tourist growth model, as well as their "concern and disagreement" with some of the main policies promoted by the island institution during this term. GOB and Terraferida consider that the Council has "decisive powers over some of the issues that most condition the future of the island", such as territorial planning, tourist planning, roads, and waste management. "They are fundamental instruments to decide how much pressure Mallorca can withstand and what territorial model we want", they pointed out.

"We cannot talk about containment if we do not use the tools and instruments to do so", was the conclusion of the entities in the face of Galmés' refusal to modify the PIAT or the Territorial Plan of Mallorca. For GOB and Terraferida, "renouncing the revision of the main island instrument for tourist planning means losing an essential opportunity to establish real limits on tourist pressure and adapt planning to the current situation of Mallorca".

Disappointed because the PIAT will not be modified

GOB and Terraferida have reproached Llorenç Galmés for having renounced modifying the Intervention Plan in Tourist Areas (PIAT) despite having announced it at the beginning of his term. "They have limited themselves to telling us that revising it would take a lot of work and time and that what they will do is try to reduce the number of places without touching the PIAT," explained Siquier. The figures presented at the meeting would place the reduction from 430,000 tourist places to 413,000, which the environmental organizations consider "clearly insufficient".

GOB and Terraferida have proposed that the places that return to the tourist accommodation pool be removed from the market with the aim that "little by little these houses can return to long-term rental circuits," while the Council advocates continuing with the one-for-one formula. "In a context of tourist saturation and residential crisis, the vacancies should serve to progressively reduce the total number of places".

For his part, Galmés has defended the reduction of the ceiling for tourist places and the actions against illegal supply as a sign of the Council's containment policy.

Second Beltway

GOB and Terraferida also showed Galmés their opposition to the policies of expanding Mallorca's road capacity instead of acting on the causes of congestion. Faced with the environmentalists' criticism of allocating 350 million euros to section I of Palma's second ring road, which they have described as a "mistake", Llorenç Galmés invited them to see the project in detail. "He spoke to us about the one-kilometer green zone that will be above the underground tunnel and the future stop for the Migjorn train," a surprised Tonina Siquier stated. The environmentalists have denounced that this millionaire amount is being allocated to a new road while public transport is deficient and saturated.

The environmentalists could accept some "specific improvements" to some of the roundabouts on the route, but not the presented project, which they consider will "only bring more traffic and more urbanization of the territory". In this sense, they warn that the construction of new roads and the expansion of existing ones "are also a territorial decision", as they end up conditioning future growth of urban centers. "On an island with limited territory, mobility and territorial planning must be planned together," they said.

Faced with these criticisms, Galmés claimed the future regulation of vehicle influx and the Council's commitment to sustainable mobility through the Civic Roads Plan and the Dissuasive Parking Plan.

'No' to shielding rustic land

One of the points where the lack of consensus has been most evident has been regarding the need for a profound change to prevent rustic land from continuing to function as a reserve for new residential and tourist uses. The organizations are calling for an immediate moratorium on new homes and private swimming pools in the countryside and to move towards the prohibition of isolated single-family homes.

The vice-president of GOB, Tonina Siquier, explained that the organizations have requested the repeal of the article of the Territorial Plan that allows building homes on 14,000 square meter plots and a moratorium on swimming pools for new projects. "The disagreement regarding rustic land is total," she asserted.

The campaign 'Foravila fora grues' (Countryside without cranes), promoted by Terraferida, has documented the artificialization of 546 hectares of agricultural and forest land between 2021 and 2024. Furthermore, between 2015 and 2024, 10,680 new swimming pools were built in Mallorca, about a third of which were on rustic land. Faced with the doubts expressed about the data, Terraferida has offered to present the complete study to the Council, and the institution has agreed to address it. "We would love to return to the Council and show them this data specifically, because it is the Administration that has the most direct powers and can act most quickly to protect rustic land," remarked Siquier.

The organizations argue that the revision of the Island Territorial Plan and the development of the Territorial Planning Guidelines must reduce the capacity to build in the countryside and reinforce its agricultural and ecological function. They warn that the sum of thousands of small actions is transforming Mallorca "house by house, pool by pool, and road by road" and demand prioritizing the rehabilitation and reuse of what is already built.

The president of the Council has contrasted these demands with the decision to remove 10,000 hectares of rustic land from the areas suitable for installing photovoltaic parks, a measure that the institution presents as a step in the protection of the territory.

"Tirme is an ungovernable monster"

GOB and Terraferida have also expressed to the president of the Council their rejection of the transfer of waste from Ibiza to Son Reus authorized this summer. They consider that incinerating it in Mallorca does not solve the problem, but rather displaces it and consolidates a model based on burning.

Tonina Siquier, vice-president of GOB, has recalled that the organization was already opposed to incineration in the nineties. "Tirme is an ungovernable monster that needs more and more waste to function," she warned. Siquier considers that if Ibiza has to export its waste, it is because it has not solved its management, a situation also linked to the high tourist activity.

The entities demand prioritizing reduction, reuse, and recycling: "The best waste policy is not to find more to burn, but to generate less".

They demand a response to the outcry of June 26th

Given all the points raised, GOB and Terraferida have demanded concrete measures from the President of the Council to reduce the tourist, urban, and automotive pressure on Mallorca. The organizations consider it contradictory to speak of containment while tourist places are maintained, building on rustic land is permitted, and infrastructure projects like the second ring road are planned.

However, Tonina Siquier has positively valued the future limitation on vehicle entry, although she considers that it "arrives late." "Saturation will continue if we do not place limits on construction, and this harms the quality of life of the people of Mallorca," she warned.

According to Siquier, the President has acknowledged that future generations will find it very difficult to continue living in Mallorca, but the organizations do not see this concern translated into effective policies.

The President of the Council of Mallorca has positively valued the meeting and pointed out that "unlike previous governments that were impassable walls, now we have our doors open to everyone, because we believe in dialogue and active listening."