The Best Laid Plans: Water and tourism

Plans for everything. Central government has plans, they are passed onto the regions which approve them or alter them, then central government changes and changes its mind, these changes are passed onto the regions which approve or alter the original alterations, but only after months of public consultation, at the end of which they probably don't do anything.

Among all the various plans for this or that, there is one for water resources. It is grandly known as the "Plan Hidrológico". In Mallorca and the Balearics, as with other regions, the plan refers not just to the provision of water but also to areas of water, i.e. the wetlands. As opposed, for instance, to wells and other underground water sources as well as overground reservoirs, it is when the visible wetland environment comes to the fore that plans become that much more complicated, because one plan is likely to conflict with another.

The water plan is out for revised public consultation, the new regional government having got central government to agree to a further consultation that is due to finish at the end of this month. But only recently has the plan been taken much notice of. And this is because the government is minded to change provisions of the plan that were approved almost a year ago and because only now have the impacts of these provisions come to be understood.

One impact would be on parts of Puerto Alcúdia. For those of you not familiar with Puerto Alcúdia's geography, much of the resort is built on reclaimed wetlands, i.e. Albufera. It is the remaining wetlands and the restoration of wetlands which fall under the plan's provisions. The restoration would affect the public swimming-pool and sports centre, the Club Mac hotel complex and the Lidl supermarket; to the extent that some demolition would need to occur.

This is most unlikely to happen. And nor indeed should it, as it would be complete and utter folly. It is unlikely to happen because the new government is less minded to be as environmentally zealous as the former environment minister Gabriel Vicens was. Vicens, in approving the plan last February, spoke of investments running to nearly three thousand million euros up to 2027 that would have turned Mallorca into one vast lake. I exaggerate of course, but the plan's provisions placed conservation over and above other considerations.

This is not to play down the importance of the water plan. It is hugely important, but where the visible water environment and therefore the island's ecology are concerned, it runs up against plans regarding land classification and usage, such as something known as POOT. This is the plan which classifies land that can be used for tourism purposes. And it is in Pollensa where the conflict between the water plan and POOT is being highlighted.

As a further geography lesson for those who don't know, the wetlands of Albufera, i.e. along the bay of Alcúdia, used to once upon a time connect with those along the bay of Pollensa, which are now Albufereta and La Gola and also the area of Ullal in Puerto Pollensa.

This area was earmarked by the previous town hall administration in Pollensa for development. Until, that is, the idea came up against how it was classified. The current town hall wants it to be de-classified under the water plan and then re-classified as POOT land. (I do hope you're following all this.) The government, it would seem, is likely to agree with the town hall, and this has provoked all manner of opposition.

Yet the opposition does not come from the resort's businesses. In the summer of 2010, when businesses led a protest against Pollensa town hall's management of Puerto Pollensa, one of the demands was for more tourism accommodation, and Ullal would be the most likely place for such accommodation to be built.

Opposition comes, not unexpectedly, from opposition parties. In addition to wishing Ullal to remain as a wetland, they claim that the town hall's architect doesn't know what he's talking about in presenting reasons for Ullal's wetland status to be removed and shouldn't even be having his say anyway, as it should be down to an environmental expert.

One can sympathise with both sides in Pollensa, as one can sympathise with the environmental and ecological arguments that would require wetland restoration in Alcúdia, but the proliferation of plans with differing aims, to say nothing of the proliferation of agencies of government and the changes to plans when these agencies themselves change, means that nothing ends up happening. Or if it does, it takes years for any decision to be agreed. The best laid plans ...


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.