The key to the conflict: "You can touch the Trenc without touching the Park"

PalmThe legal modification promoted by the Government to eliminate the obligation to go through Parliament when modifying the protection area of ​​the Trenc Natural Park raised all alarms of environmentalism. The response arrived on July 5, when 10,000 people gathered in this emblematic space to protest against what they consider the gateway to a future reduction in protection.

The conflict, however, goes back further. What most bothered several landowners was not the declaration of the Natural Park in 2017, but the approval, in 2023, of the Plan for the Regulation of Natural Resources (PORN), which expanded the scope of protection. That is to say, it extended the park's area of influence and limited future economic activities in various environments, especially in the area of Les Covetes.

“They can say they won't touch Es Trenc, but we all know each other here. If the PP reduces the requirements to modify a protected area, it won't be to expand the park. We are very clear that they were preparing an intervention and we have gathered them. I think they have been overconfident,” states Jaume Adrover, spokesperson for Terraferida, one of the organizations that called the July 5th demonstration.

It's not just the spokesperson for Terraferida who considers that Marga Prohens' government miscalculated if they thought they could touch Es Trenc without anyone noticing. “It's a symbol, it's a very valuable space, which we will not allow to be modified just like that. For more than four decades, some have wanted to make a profit here, and they haven't understood that protection adds value to the land, it doesn't take away from it. And I have no doubt that these speculators have knocked on some door when they saw that their battle against the PORN isn't going well,” says Tonina Siquier, vice-president of GOB.

In the days following the demonstration, the Government has maintained what it had said before: “We will not touch a single meter of the Natural Park.” Sources close to the Executive confirm that, for the moment, no modification is planned and that, in any case, “as it is a delicate matter, anything will have to have the blessing of those at the top.” After the success of the call, the blessing will not come, at least in the short term.

But is it possible not to modify the park and attend to the pressures of those who want to reduce it? The answer lies with a lawyer who works for the regional administration and who participated in the defense of the PORN: “They can say they will not touch the park if they are referring to the area defined as the scope of the Natural Park figure. Surely, the pressures have come from those who have interests in the new cartography that the PORN made, areas technically not declared as a park, but with the same restrictions. Therefore, you can touch el Trenc without touching the park, but it seems like a perverse word game,” he confesses.

Who moved against the PORN

It is not possible to ascertain who pressured Marga Prohens' Government to facilitate a future modification of the Trenc protection area. What can be reconstructed is who mobilized against the PORN approved by the Pact in 2023, when the protected zone was expanded.

Three individuals —two companies and a female owner— and a neighborhood association are the visible face of this opposition, although sources familiar with the files assure that they are not the only interests that have moved against the new protection area.

The expansion of the PORN, which incorporated nearly 74,000 square meters, mainly around Les Covetes, was challenged by several owners, a legal battle that remains open while the Government has modified the legal requirements to change the Natural Park's protection area.

Four different actors filed judicial appeals with a common element: they question the impact of the PORN on land use planning. Ses Arenes Camp i Natura SL is a company that owns the main restaurant in the Natural Park –“a gold mine,” explain local sources–, in addition to an agritourism in one of the most important natural spaces in the Balearic Islands: the Campos salt flats.

The second appellant, Es Figueral Gran SLU, is the operator of the Sa Barralina polo field, which was sealed for not having the relevant permits and which, finally, Marga Prohens' Government legalized. The company is linked to an activity that has generated controversy over the boundaries between private uses and the protection of a sensitive territory.

The third appellant is Ana Burguera and, finally, the Association of Neighbors and Friends of Trenc-Salobrar de Campos.

Others who pull strings

It is not only four, however, who have come forward to try to return the park to its original protection area. There are more. “Some are powerful and well-known for businesses linked to the territory in Campos,” explains a lawyer familiar with the files and the processing of the Natural Park.

Sources familiar with the case assure that, after the period of allegations and the initiation of lawsuits – still pending resolution –, some of those affected began to see few options of achieving the annulment of the PORN through the courts. It is in this context that, according to these sources, the focus has shifted towards the political route, with the aim of the PP cutting back the protection area approved in 2023.

The key to the conflict, according to the legal technician who requests anonymity, is that the arguments of the four appellants do not face a “weak or improvised” file. On the contrary, he assures that the Pact government built a legally sound procedure with the correct application of regulations and individualized responses to allegations after a long processing period initiated in 2019.

The legal report prepared by the Ministry of Environment on April 26, 2023, reinforces this thesis. The document concludes that the PORN development procedure complied with the procedures provided for in the Law for the Conservation of Environmental Relevance Areas (LECO), after a process that included public information, hearings for interested parties, consultations with administrations and entities, sectoral reports, and legal review before approval.

The Pact government has always argued that the PORN was not only an environmental protection instrument, but also a tool for integral territorial planning, capable of defining areas, establishing uses, and regulating activities. This is precisely where the core of the conflict lies. The expansion of the protected area not only increases the protection of one of the most valuable natural spaces in the Balearic Islands, but also conditions the possible uses of certain properties, the central element of the judicial appeals and the subsequent political battle. It remains to be seen whether Prohens dares to take the step or waits for the waters to calm around a unique space.