Martínez wins the battle against Water Resources: unfiltered licenses in flood-prone areas

PalmThe mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, has won the first of his battles against the Ministry of the Sea and the Water Cycle, meaning the Palma City Council (Cort) will be able to grant building permits for urban development projects without the involvement of the Water Resources Department when dealing with flood-prone areas. This was announced on Tuesday by Minister Juan Manuel Lafuente, who confirmed an exceptional procedure "agreed upon with the Palma City Council so that it can directly inform the Water Resources Department's reports," he explained in response to a question from Vox deputy Patricia de las Heras. Lafuente admitted that this decision was made to expedite building permits. ARA Baleares had previously reported that the Palma City Council had long been demanding not to have to go through the Directorate General of Water Resources to authorize the large apartment developments that have been made possible by regulations promoting new housing. For now, the Balearic Government, and subsequently confirmed by the Palma City Council, have agreed that the City Council can proceed without going through the department specifically responsible for flood-prone areas. Until now, regulations stipulated that these actions had to ensure water sufficiency, and that it was also necessary to determine the degree of impact on the flood zone map. However, Lafuente has hinted that, thanks to administrative simplification laws, Palma has now been authorized to do so. The official objective is to reduce timelines and streamline bureaucratic procedures that, according to the Government, are blocking investment and housing projects. But there are technicians at the Palma City Council who do not share the argument of obstruction, and some have confessed to ARA Baleares that there is "pressure to build apartments at any cost." "They want images of developments underway to meet housing needs, and water sufficiency bothered them," said a specialist who requested anonymity.

In this regard, the pressure exerted by Mayor Jaime Martínez on the Government was well known: the mayor asserted that the strategy of building more apartments clashed with the reluctance of the Water Resources Department. As this newspaper reported, this pressure from the City Council (Cort) has been exerted within a context of strong urban development in Palma, and the mayor has defended the need to accelerate the construction of apartments and residential developments in response to the housing emergency. The municipal government team has taken advantage of regulations such as the Land Acquisition Decree Law and other measures approved with the support of the PP and Vox parties in the Balearic Parliament to allow for greater residential density and faster development of buildable land.

This legal framework aims to accelerate the construction of "thousands of apartments," and the City Council maintains that, thanks to these measures, results in the form of new homes could be seen this legislative term. Figures of up to 20,000 new homes have been mentioned in various official announcements. But the reality is that most of these homes were already included in the existing urban plan, and the maximum number possible under the new scheme would be lower, but still significant. In any case, some developments already underway occupy, at least partially, flood-prone areas, and this fact was straining relations between the Palma City Council (Cort) and the Balearic Government (Govern). The law makes it clear that developments can only be authorized if all utilities are guaranteed—and water is not, in the case of Palma. Reports from the Water Resources Department (during the previous coalition government) on the General Plan already warned of this complicated situation. Aquifers are overexploited, and there are no plans for a new desalination plant in the short term. This situation has been a source of tension between the Popular Party leaders in the City Council and the Balearic Government's technical staff, who have emphasized the need to comply with the regulations.

According to the new interpretation, certain projects in flood-prone areas—including housing developments—could obtain permits without the Directorate General of Water Resources first assessing their water sufficiency. This opens the door to permits and construction without a clear verification of whether there is enough water to make them viable in the long term.

Urban development pressure and water limitations

The projected increase in housing developments and urban densities comes at a time when the Balearic Islands' water resources have been repeatedly deemed insufficient to cope with such rapid growth. Reports from social and environmental organizations, such as GOB, have warned that the archipelago is unprepared to face water scarcity crises or droughts in a scenario of urban and demographic growth, and they demand that any housing policy take into account the availability of this limited resource. This, they warn, could have consequences for the sustainability of aquifers, the pressure on supply systems, and the maintenance of water levels necessary for urban and agricultural use in the medium and long term.

Cort has confirmed this

Along the same lines, the Councilor for Urban Planning, Housing, and Strategic Projects of the Palma City Council, Óscar Fidalgo, announced this Tuesday that the Council has agreed to eliminate the need for prior authorization from the Water Resources Department for processing building permits in flood-prone areas of the city, with the aim of expediting the procedures. Fidalgo explained that, according to this agreement with the Ministry of the Sea and the Water Cycle, the procedure will be carried out at the beginning of the permit application through a declaration of responsibility, so that both administrations can process the file simultaneously. The councilor argued that this step will considerably reduce the time it takes to grant a permit, which, he pointed out, could take up to almost two years due to the workload of the Water Resources Department. The procedure stipulates that the applicant submits a declaration of responsibility to the City Council along with the regulatory compliance annex, which will be reviewed along with the rest of the file so that the corresponding technical reports can be issued without having to wait for prior express authorization. The new procedure will apply to both new and current applications, which number around 350, ensuring, according to Fidalgo, full compliance with current water regulations.