The polo field, one of the businesses that are battling to reduce the limits of El Trenc

PalmaThe battle for the future of the Trenc Natural Park and its surroundings has concrete names. Individuals and companies that for years have been trying to prevent the consolidation a protection strip around this protected area, as consecrated by the Natural Resources Management Plan (PORN) in 2023. One is the Sa Barralina polo field, promoted by the company Es Figueral Gran, which filed one of the four legal challenges against the 2023 Trenc management plan. Like other landowners, they did not want the park's area, already delimited in 2017 with the law that declared it, to be expanded, even if it was simply as an influence area. Because they believed they would lose opportunities to carry out activities, such as parking lots and, in some cases, restaurants. This is the heart of the conflict that currently surrounds the natural park, after the Government has reserved the possibility of modifying it directly.

For this reason, and given the information that identifies specific interests, especially around the Covetes area, which was affected by the protection decreed by the PORN in 2023, nearly 10,000 people gathered last Sunday on the same Trenc beach in protest against what they fear will be a new attempt "to reduce the protection of one of the most relevant natural spaces in the Balearic Islands", in the words of the organizers.

This particular company filed the appeal while precisely engaged in a fierce battle against the Administration, which had reported them for carrying out activities and installations on common rural land without the required permit. The reason is that in the Barralina lands there was no authorization for buildings or for the activities that were being carried out there, polo matches.

For years, the facilities were one of the most controversial points in the El Trenc area. The activity was the subject of actions by the Land Defense Agency, which considered that the works and uses developed did not have the necessary urban planning coverage. The field was even sealed off and the conflict also ended up in the courts.

For years, the polo field represented an example of the debate on the limits of private uses in rural land and in an environmentally particularly sensitive territory. Environmental organizations denounced that it was a large-scale facility incompatible with the protection of the environment.

Disputes against protection

The appellants reported to the court that the Pact had extended the Park's limitations beyond the land included in 2017. Their central argument is legal: they consider that the PORN has gone beyond its function and has produced a material expansion of the protected area. Their interpretation starts from Law 2/2017, which declared the Natural Park and set its territorial boundaries. According to this thesis, the delimitation of a protected natural area is an essential element that can only be modified by a norm of the same rank, not through a regulatory decree.

In their allegations, the appellants argue that the PORN could not incorporate certain transition zones —especially around Les Covetes— into a protection regime that, in practice, would produce effects equivalent to those of the park itself. Their accusation is that the Administration would have used a natural resource management instrument to expand de facto the scope of protection without formally modifying the limits established by law, which deprives them of rights of use and activities they do not wish to renounce.

But according to the spokespersons of the environmental group GOB, these days, "this interpretation that the court will have to resolve is included in various sentences at the state level," and thanks to different regulations it is possible to carry out expansions of the area 'affected' by the park's protection without it being strictly a park. Balearic environmental regulations, especially the Law for the conservation of areas of environmental relevance, allow environmental planning instruments to manage areas broader than the strict core of a protected area and establish transition zones or areas of influence. This Law has also been in the spotlight of the Popular Party.

The issue is, therefore, not whether a PORN can have effects on the park's surroundings —this is one of its functions— but whether in this specific case the Government legitimately exercised this power or if it ended up extending the legal effects of the park beyond what the law allowed. The sentence is still pending, but in many legal circles it is considered difficult for the appellants' arguments to succeed.

For this reason, some businesses in the park's surroundings have historically conveyed to the leaders of the Popular Party the importance of finding a way to prevent the PORN from expanding the protected area by 74,000 square meters. According to some sources consulted, these same requests had already reached the highest regional leaders; hence the regulatory modification that allows the Natural Park to be touched by the Governing Council, without going through Parliament.

A society with tourist and equestrian interests within the Trenc environment

Es Figueral Gran SL is a company incorporated in 2000 with a share capital of over 11 million euros. According to the consulted commercial report, its corporate purpose includes activities related to the equestrian world, agricultural and livestock activities, as well as tourist accommodation. The current activity is classified within the tourist accommodation sector and the company has ties with other companies related to the heritage and tourism sector.

Polo field: a questioned activity that has been finding coverage

While the conflict over the PORN continues in the courts, the Sa Barralina polo field has found legal footing. After the actions of the territorial agency of the Council, which even took the case to the Prosecutor's Office, the situation began to change with a succession of political and regulatory decisions that modified the applicable framework. Through legislative changes, the field found a way to regularize its situation and maintain its activity. Furthermore, these same regulatory changes have allowed it to save a large part of the fine imposed by the Consell de Mallorca.

This evolution has been harshly criticized by environmental sectors and part of the political opposition, who have considered that the Administration has facilitated an exceptional solution for an activity that had been questioned for years.