The Vilafranca PTI (Provincial Council of the Interior) is destroying the protection of the assets of Talayotic Menorca.

CitadelThe controversy over the Rafal Rubí Bridge has yet to subside. It has been revealed that, in the very draft amendment to the PTI, the People's Party (PP) has erased all the landscape parameters that had been included, in accordance with the special protection of the 280 properties included in the declaration of Talayotic Menorca as World Heritage.

The new article eliminates the requirement to "safeguard the values and integrity of the landscape environments and avoid impacts on the surroundings of the attributes of Talayotic Menorca." Instead, it only mentions "harmonizing them landscape-wise, as far as possible." But the reports, which are now mandatory and binding, would no longer be required. Furthermore, the technical report warns that, by eliminating all reference to the landscape, acoustic panels could be installed "that disfigure the characteristic landscape of Menorca, assimilating it to that of large cities."

Landscape architect Rafael Mata, key in the development of the World Heritage nomination and the current PTI, has already warned that, if the Plan is not rectified, UNESCO will have to intervene urgently, since the measure openly contravenes the declaration.

The scope, he warns, goes far beyond the specific case of Rafal Rubí, as it can be replicated in other places. In fact, the PTI document emphasizes that "road safety is prioritized" and that it will be sufficient to "implement corrective measures for landscape integration to harmonize as much as possible the new layouts and road projects."

"But, with the bridge, the Rafal Rubí site cannot be interpreted," Mata adds. "We can erect a barrier of wild olive trees to lessen the impact, but the meaning is still lost." ICOMOS also valued Menorca's candidacy to explain the monuments in relation to the landscape. Corrective measures are fine when a project is unavoidable, but not when dealing with a World Heritage Site."

The port of Liverpool, the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, and the Elbe Valley in the German city of Dresden have already lost their World Heritage status. UNESCO has yet to say the final word on Menorca.