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

PalmaThe legal modification promoted by the Government to eliminate the obligation to go through Parliament when modifying the protection area of the Trenc Natural Park set off all the alarms of environmentalism. The response came 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 owners was not the declaration of the Natural Park in 2017, but the approval, in 2023, of the Plan for the Management of Natural Resources (PORN), which expanded the protection area. That is, it extended the park's area of influence and limited future economic activities in various environments, especially in the Covetes area.

“They can say they won't touch 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 become overconfident,” states Jaume Adrover, spokesperson for Terraferida, one of the entities that called the demonstration on July 5.

It is not only the spokesperson for Terraferida who believes that Marga Prohens' Government miscalculated if they thought they could touch Trenc without anyone noticing. “It is a symbol, it is a very valuable space, which we will not allow to be modified just like that. For more than four decades, some have wanted to do business there, and they have not understood that protection adds value to the land, it does not 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 was not going well,” states Tonina Siquier, vice-president of GOB.

In the days following the demonstration, the Government 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 in power.” 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 refer 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 park, but with the same restrictions. Therefore, you can touch Trenc without touching the park, but it seems like a perverse word game,” he confesses.

Who moved against the PORN

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

Three individuals —two companies and a landlady— and a residents' association are the visible face of this opposition, although sources familiar with the files assure that they are not the only interests that have been 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 protection area of the Natural Park.

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, the Government of Marga Prohens 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 El Trenc-Salobrar de Campos.

Others who pull strings

It's not just four, however, who have moved 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 knowledgeable about the files and the processing of the Natural Park.

Sources familiar with the case assure that, after the period of allegations and the start of the lawsuits - still pending resolution - some of those affected began to see few options of achieving the annulment of the PORN through the judicial route. It is in this context that, according to these sources, the focus has shifted towards the political route, with the aim that the PP cuts 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 solid procedure with the correct application of regulations and individualized responses to the 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 elaboration procedure complied with the procedures provided for in the Law for the Conservation of Areas of Environmental Relevance (LECO), after a process that included public information, hearing of interested parties, consultations with administrations and entities, sectoral reports, and legal review before approval.

The Pact government has always maintained that the PORN was not only an environmental protection instrument, but also a comprehensive land management tool, capable of delimiting areas, establishing uses, and regulating activities. It is precisely here that the root 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. Now it remains to be seen whether Prohens dares to take the step or waits for the waters to calm around a unique space.