The Wacky Department's at it again. It seems to be the only department in the Spanish Government that's expanding during the "cree-sis". What it has now dragged out, courtesy of the dreaded Costas and their "demarcation", is a revival of an old tune - the elimination of the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. This was something that had gone ominously quiet since being given plenty of airplay a couple of years ago (for example, 9 May 2008, Road To Nowhere). But it's back on the playlist - and racing up the charts.
The idea that the coast road should be removed and nature allowed to reclaim the coastal area is one that goes back some years, but it has never really attracted serious attention. This is about to change. The Costas, as reported in "The Diario" yesterday, are embarking on two studies - one into the socioeconomic implications of getting rid of the road, the other a technical proposal for doing so.
The environmental context for the road's elimination is clear: the road runs right by a line of coast that is "rustic", i.e. not made up, and by the Albufereta wetlands and finca of Can Cullerassa, itself recently cleaned up after years of neglect following the abandonment of a building project that dated back to the seventies. The non-environmental ramifications of eliminating the road are also obvious - Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa would in effect, unless there were an alternative road, be cut off from each other. And quite what the owners of the Club Pollentia Resort, the Club Sol Apartments, the Can Cuarassa restaurant and various fincas make of the idea, God alone knows.
Pollensa's mayor Joan Cerdà, for his part, has expressed his scepticism regarding the plan and is also concerned as to what an alternative road might mean for finca owners and for the virgin land that exists beyond the Albufereta. Any new road, and there would surely have to be one, would have to cut across this land while probably also having to have feeder roads. Solving one environmental problem would merely create a different one, to which would be added the costs of expropriation and the inevitable legal challenges.
What needs to be established, above all else, is whether the continued existence of the current road represents genuine potential for long-term environmental harm. If not, then one would have to conclude, and not for the first time with the Costas' diktats on demarcation, that the road's elimination would be an example of over-zealous application of that demarcation. The project demands an independent enquiry, not one under the auspices of the Costas.
There are other issues to be taken into account. The current road can be dangerous and also a nightmare when the weather is bad and stones are being hurled onto it. It might be no bad thing if there were an alternative road, but the existing road is also important for tourism, a point that Mayor Cerdà has made.
The logic of the Costas' position would, one might think, place the continued existence of the hotels and the restaurant in peril. Leave them, but without the coast road and with a new one to their rear, and that logic would be undermined; they are as much a part of the environmental issue along the coast road as the road itself.
But there may also be another factor, one lurking in the background, and that is the European Union. The recuperation of Can Cullerassa was part of what the EU had determined to be a priority in terms of environmental regeneration.
While common sense would suggest that Cerdà is right to be sceptical as to whether the project will happen, there are sufficient forces potentially lining up that might just make it happen.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Albufereta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Albufereta. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, November 09, 2009
Napoleon Did Surrender
Good God, he's back again. Is there nowhere that does not provide a photo opportunity for Enviro Man? The latest jaunt? There amidst some scrubland in the S'Albufereta, along with the mayors of Alcúdia and Pollensa. Environment minister Grimalt sharing the camera lens with his mayoral compatriots in the Unió Mallorquina, all in the name of environmental recuperation.
Albufereta, in case you don't know, is the little Albufera to be found to the side of the coastal road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. Basically, it's much the same as the Albufera of Playa de Muro except much smaller, without a reception centre and without anything remotely worth looking at. It is an area that has, apparently, been classified as a recuperation priority by the European Union. Over a hundred thousand euros have been earmarked for the first phase - that of getting rid of rubbish that has accumulated and re-establishing the water land area known as Can Cullerassa which takes its name, or is it the other way round, from the stretch of beach and which also lends its name to the restaurant, albeit that this is called Can Cuarassa - not sure how that works, but apparently it is so.
It was reassuring that the photo opp in the "Diario" did not show Enviro Man and his fellow camera fodder wearing masks. Back in March, it was revealed that there was a bit of a problem with E.coli in the water of Albufereta, something which led to a sign being covered with the word "contaminado", which one assumed was not an official addition to the sign.
In a quite different matter environmental, Enviro Man's ministry, according to "The Bulletin", is coming in for a bit of a bashing from the local Chamber of Commerce for refusing to grant permission for the island of Cabrera to be used as a location for a film with Al Pacino about Napoleon. This is in fact the long-awaited adaptation of the children's book by Staton Rabin, "Betsy And The Emperor", which will also feature Emma Watson, as Betsy. I say "long-awaited" only because the film has been talked about for at least four years.
Cabrera is the largest of the small archipelago off the southern coast of Mallorca, all of which is deemed to be a nature reserve, one to which there is little by way of excursion. The regular population of Cabrera is under 100, and the ecosystem is considered that fragile that diving is forbidden. But the argument goes that filming there would not have any harmful effect, which may possibly be true, while production teams are generally pretty assiduous when it comes to tidying up after themselves and are also not unknown for being quite generous in terms of paying for locations, a possible additional source of revenue, therefore, for promoting the island, one might have thought. Moreover, goes the argument, using Cabrera would be beneficial in showing off some excellent landscape and thus attracting further tourism. Which may also be true, but not for Cabrera as such, while cinema-goers would probably need to know that Napoleon was on an island off Mallorca and not on an island in the Atlantic, as the film will be about his exile in St. Helena.
Maybe though the objection has to do with the fact that Enviro Man would not himself appear; for newspaper photographers read also film camera crews. But it might be possible for him to get a walk-on as an extra or something, planting a sign to the effect of "this scene sponsored by the Balearic Government's environment ministry on the island of Cabrera near to Mallorca". That might do the trick, so long as no-one comes along and adds "contaminado" to the sign.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Sugababes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns6SdC8TQuQ. Today's title - and it is on the night of their great win that a story does lie, but not one I'm about to tell you.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Albufereta, in case you don't know, is the little Albufera to be found to the side of the coastal road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. Basically, it's much the same as the Albufera of Playa de Muro except much smaller, without a reception centre and without anything remotely worth looking at. It is an area that has, apparently, been classified as a recuperation priority by the European Union. Over a hundred thousand euros have been earmarked for the first phase - that of getting rid of rubbish that has accumulated and re-establishing the water land area known as Can Cullerassa which takes its name, or is it the other way round, from the stretch of beach and which also lends its name to the restaurant, albeit that this is called Can Cuarassa - not sure how that works, but apparently it is so.
It was reassuring that the photo opp in the "Diario" did not show Enviro Man and his fellow camera fodder wearing masks. Back in March, it was revealed that there was a bit of a problem with E.coli in the water of Albufereta, something which led to a sign being covered with the word "contaminado", which one assumed was not an official addition to the sign.
In a quite different matter environmental, Enviro Man's ministry, according to "The Bulletin", is coming in for a bit of a bashing from the local Chamber of Commerce for refusing to grant permission for the island of Cabrera to be used as a location for a film with Al Pacino about Napoleon. This is in fact the long-awaited adaptation of the children's book by Staton Rabin, "Betsy And The Emperor", which will also feature Emma Watson, as Betsy. I say "long-awaited" only because the film has been talked about for at least four years.
Cabrera is the largest of the small archipelago off the southern coast of Mallorca, all of which is deemed to be a nature reserve, one to which there is little by way of excursion. The regular population of Cabrera is under 100, and the ecosystem is considered that fragile that diving is forbidden. But the argument goes that filming there would not have any harmful effect, which may possibly be true, while production teams are generally pretty assiduous when it comes to tidying up after themselves and are also not unknown for being quite generous in terms of paying for locations, a possible additional source of revenue, therefore, for promoting the island, one might have thought. Moreover, goes the argument, using Cabrera would be beneficial in showing off some excellent landscape and thus attracting further tourism. Which may also be true, but not for Cabrera as such, while cinema-goers would probably need to know that Napoleon was on an island off Mallorca and not on an island in the Atlantic, as the film will be about his exile in St. Helena.
Maybe though the objection has to do with the fact that Enviro Man would not himself appear; for newspaper photographers read also film camera crews. But it might be possible for him to get a walk-on as an extra or something, planting a sign to the effect of "this scene sponsored by the Balearic Government's environment ministry on the island of Cabrera near to Mallorca". That might do the trick, so long as no-one comes along and adds "contaminado" to the sign.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Sugababes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns6SdC8TQuQ. Today's title - and it is on the night of their great win that a story does lie, but not one I'm about to tell you.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Close To You
Catching up on the train saga, my indignation with the "fool's economy" having got in the way of my following it up yesterday ... . The Alcúdia politicos, of differing colours and ideologies, have grouped together to push - again - for an alternative route to that preferred by the Balearic Government's department of mobility and, it should be said, the environmental group GOB. Mayor Ferrer is arguing for the siting of the station to be in Puerto Alcúdia and not in the town of Alcúdia. Those who are in favour of the so-called "southern option", included among whose number are many Alcúdia politicians and the mayor of Muro, had originally proposed that the station be sited by the Es Foguero ruin, but now there seems to be as much of a lobby for it to go by one of the main roundabouts - the Horse or Magic. I apologise for repetition. We have been here several times before, but there are always people coming to this anew, so I have to give a bit of background.
One of the reasons why the government wants the northern option, which would see the station in the town behind the auditorium, is - so it is argued - that this would be closer to a greater centre of population. The opposing view, that being pressed by the mayor, is that a station by, say, the Magic roundabout would in fact be better - to the tune of some 25,000 people or so more people better. This is the number of tourists who, it is said, would benefit from a station a couple of kilometres away from where the government wants it go. It sounds a sensible argument, but is it? Does it really make any difference to tourists where the damn station is? If it's in Alcúdia, wherever in Alcúdia, it would be good enough. And how many would actually use the train, or indeed could use the train? This is not a rail system capable of transporting huge numbers of people, while the most obvious connection for tourists - to the airport - does not exist and is not planned. Other than the fact that the train would be useful, the tourism argument is, frankly, spurious, except also for the fact that financing is linked to tourism. But I make the point again; it hardly matters, to tourists, whether the station is in the old town, by the Magic roundabout or by Es Foguero.
What one has here is a clear case of local versus central conflict. Alcúdia council has been pissed off by the whole train issue because the government did not consult enough, or so it is said. One does also detect the influence of GOB in all this, and it wouldn't be the first time. There does appear to be a degree of closeness between GOB and the mobility department; I have referred to it before in connection with the road plans in Palma and the conversion of the Son Bosc finca in Muro. Such conflict 'twas ever thus. But the more this all drags on, the more the chances of someone having second thoughts and scrapping the whole project - and the way it's going, you wouldn't bet against this. Oh, and we now find that the sensible part of the whole thing - running the track alongside the main road from Sa Pobla isn't sensible; indeed it is unsafe, or so says some authority in Madrid. That'll be unsafe as in rail lines parallel to roads in England, Germany and Holland. It's never going to be built is it.
Incidentally, on a map in "The Bulletin" which shows the proposed routes, there is reference to "The Albufera Natural Park in Alcúdia". What is wrong with this? Apart from "nature park" being preferable, in which municipality is Albufera? The answer is that it is not in Alcúdia. It is in Muro. Poor old Muro. As ever, it is confused with Alcúdia. Maybe they should just merge it with Alcúdia and have done with it.
And while on Albufera, a follow-up on Albufereta, the "little" Albufera that lies by the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. I mentioned the other day that there is alleged to be a bit of an E. coli problem there. Driving past a couple of days ago, I noticed that someone had helpfully covered a sign with a sheet of paper with "contaminada" written on it. Well, it was there; probably isn't now. (Actually, it is; I checked this morning.)
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Stone Roses (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bHMVAKDao). Today's title - Homer and Madge's song.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
One of the reasons why the government wants the northern option, which would see the station in the town behind the auditorium, is - so it is argued - that this would be closer to a greater centre of population. The opposing view, that being pressed by the mayor, is that a station by, say, the Magic roundabout would in fact be better - to the tune of some 25,000 people or so more people better. This is the number of tourists who, it is said, would benefit from a station a couple of kilometres away from where the government wants it go. It sounds a sensible argument, but is it? Does it really make any difference to tourists where the damn station is? If it's in Alcúdia, wherever in Alcúdia, it would be good enough. And how many would actually use the train, or indeed could use the train? This is not a rail system capable of transporting huge numbers of people, while the most obvious connection for tourists - to the airport - does not exist and is not planned. Other than the fact that the train would be useful, the tourism argument is, frankly, spurious, except also for the fact that financing is linked to tourism. But I make the point again; it hardly matters, to tourists, whether the station is in the old town, by the Magic roundabout or by Es Foguero.
What one has here is a clear case of local versus central conflict. Alcúdia council has been pissed off by the whole train issue because the government did not consult enough, or so it is said. One does also detect the influence of GOB in all this, and it wouldn't be the first time. There does appear to be a degree of closeness between GOB and the mobility department; I have referred to it before in connection with the road plans in Palma and the conversion of the Son Bosc finca in Muro. Such conflict 'twas ever thus. But the more this all drags on, the more the chances of someone having second thoughts and scrapping the whole project - and the way it's going, you wouldn't bet against this. Oh, and we now find that the sensible part of the whole thing - running the track alongside the main road from Sa Pobla isn't sensible; indeed it is unsafe, or so says some authority in Madrid. That'll be unsafe as in rail lines parallel to roads in England, Germany and Holland. It's never going to be built is it.
Incidentally, on a map in "The Bulletin" which shows the proposed routes, there is reference to "The Albufera Natural Park in Alcúdia". What is wrong with this? Apart from "nature park" being preferable, in which municipality is Albufera? The answer is that it is not in Alcúdia. It is in Muro. Poor old Muro. As ever, it is confused with Alcúdia. Maybe they should just merge it with Alcúdia and have done with it.
And while on Albufera, a follow-up on Albufereta, the "little" Albufera that lies by the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. I mentioned the other day that there is alleged to be a bit of an E. coli problem there. Driving past a couple of days ago, I noticed that someone had helpfully covered a sign with a sheet of paper with "contaminada" written on it. Well, it was there; probably isn't now. (Actually, it is; I checked this morning.)
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Stone Roses (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bHMVAKDao). Today's title - Homer and Madge's song.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, March 09, 2009
Don't Go Near The Water
Bacteria reside everywhere. To find them in a water-based environment would hardly be surprising - indeed it would be rather worrying if there were none - but it depends what they are, and there has been an alarm following the apparent discovery of the Escherichia coil (E. coli) bacterium in water at Albufereta, the little Albufera outside Alcúdia on the way to Puerto Pollensa. Now let me make it quite clear. I am no expert. But E. coli, so I always understood, was a bacterium of the gut, be it human or animal. It would not be something that would survive outside of a body for any great length of time - at least that is what I thought was the case. If I am wrong, do please tell me because I don't claim knowledge; in fact I don't claim any, not of course that it's stopped me in the past. Oh, and I say there has been an alarm; there hasn't been, as I don't know that anybody much knows about it.
But, if E. coli has indeed been found, how has it got there? There are different types of E. coli. It is possible, for example, that it comes from rabbits or seagulls - it would seem that beaches on Lake Michigan were closed a couple of years ago and that gull shit was a possible cause of the E. coli that was found which caused the closure. The bacterium in Albufereta is said to be in the aquifers, according to the report in "The Diario", and there is a call for the environment ministry, which denies that there is contamination, to conduct a study of all the wells in Pollensa in order to establish where the bacterium has actually come from. Furthermore, there is a call for an investigation into the state of the water in Albufereta, which - it is further claimed - has high levels of salinity.
Anyway, I'm sure that the chaps have all got it under control and that there is nothing at all to be worried about. And one would have hoped that this was the case for all those who went to Pollensa for the hunters' fair over the weekend. Apparently, and finally, this did seem to get some publicity. None that personally I was aware of, but I am told there was. After I had made reference to the fair more than a week ago (1 March), I did actually get concerned that perhaps I had got the year wrong, and that it was happening next year. My concern was caused by the almost total absence of any information. But never too late, there was finally some, and so the one hundred thousand plus euros that was spent by the Council of Mallorca on the fair would not have gone amiss after all. And I'm sure that we are all reassured by that.
For those who wish to make Pollensa the destination of choice when it comes to holiday lets, the fact that any E. coli is of small concern and under the watchful gaze and control of the environment ministry will be welcome news. There was a study of people coming into the airport, which asked about where they were staying. This found that close to 16% were headed for places of so-called residential tourism (apartments, villas in other words). This is not a very high percentage. The study, under the auspices of an academic at the university, has revealed a figure about half that which the Balearic Government believes, and a third of that which the head of the Mallorca hotel federation believes to be the case. How very interesting, you might think. And I shall go into more detail as to why it is all very interesting tomorrow.
Things that are starting again
As every year, as things start to spring back into action, so I duly make mention, if that is people tell me. So, what have we got? Foxes Arms is back in operation as from today, the cheery home of a Division One title romp and where, some day before the end of the season I imagine, the drinks will be on the house when Leicester indeed secure that title. And this Friday sees the resumption of trips out with No Frills Excursions, Valldemossa being the first of the season and the island trip scheduled for Sunday.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Temptations, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61U90Pqo-rU); the group didn't much care for the sentiments of this song or others that Norman Whitfield created. They still sang it though. Today's title - well, not one of the better ones from which Californian group known for the water.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
But, if E. coli has indeed been found, how has it got there? There are different types of E. coli. It is possible, for example, that it comes from rabbits or seagulls - it would seem that beaches on Lake Michigan were closed a couple of years ago and that gull shit was a possible cause of the E. coli that was found which caused the closure. The bacterium in Albufereta is said to be in the aquifers, according to the report in "The Diario", and there is a call for the environment ministry, which denies that there is contamination, to conduct a study of all the wells in Pollensa in order to establish where the bacterium has actually come from. Furthermore, there is a call for an investigation into the state of the water in Albufereta, which - it is further claimed - has high levels of salinity.
Anyway, I'm sure that the chaps have all got it under control and that there is nothing at all to be worried about. And one would have hoped that this was the case for all those who went to Pollensa for the hunters' fair over the weekend. Apparently, and finally, this did seem to get some publicity. None that personally I was aware of, but I am told there was. After I had made reference to the fair more than a week ago (1 March), I did actually get concerned that perhaps I had got the year wrong, and that it was happening next year. My concern was caused by the almost total absence of any information. But never too late, there was finally some, and so the one hundred thousand plus euros that was spent by the Council of Mallorca on the fair would not have gone amiss after all. And I'm sure that we are all reassured by that.
For those who wish to make Pollensa the destination of choice when it comes to holiday lets, the fact that any E. coli is of small concern and under the watchful gaze and control of the environment ministry will be welcome news. There was a study of people coming into the airport, which asked about where they were staying. This found that close to 16% were headed for places of so-called residential tourism (apartments, villas in other words). This is not a very high percentage. The study, under the auspices of an academic at the university, has revealed a figure about half that which the Balearic Government believes, and a third of that which the head of the Mallorca hotel federation believes to be the case. How very interesting, you might think. And I shall go into more detail as to why it is all very interesting tomorrow.
Things that are starting again
As every year, as things start to spring back into action, so I duly make mention, if that is people tell me. So, what have we got? Foxes Arms is back in operation as from today, the cheery home of a Division One title romp and where, some day before the end of the season I imagine, the drinks will be on the house when Leicester indeed secure that title. And this Friday sees the resumption of trips out with No Frills Excursions, Valldemossa being the first of the season and the island trip scheduled for Sunday.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Temptations, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61U90Pqo-rU); the group didn't much care for the sentiments of this song or others that Norman Whitfield created. They still sang it though. Today's title - well, not one of the better ones from which Californian group known for the water.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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