Before it was finally drafted and then approved, a key part of the regional government's new tourism law was that decision-making and the administration of procedures with regard to a hotel's change of use would pass from the town halls to the government. It was a measure that made sense, as the intention was to cut down on the red tape that surrounds any work with hotels. It was to prove, however, to be the one part of the bill that was substantially altered, i.e. the government caved in because the town halls kicked up an almighty great fuss, saying that they knew best when it came to local planning.
The government was wrong to have given way. Removing the need for town hall approvals would have deprived the local councils of a key function, and their objections smacked of preserving their fiefdoms as much as they may have been founded on legitimate arguments as to local knowledge. The government's weakness in the face of opposition from many town halls run by fellow members of the Partido Popular is now being shown up; the hoteliers federation is complaining of bureaucratic obstacles being raised by town halls that threaten to delay both regular renovation and change of hotel use until next winter.
One does have to be guarded when it comes to statements by the hoteliers federation, as there is a tendency for it to over-egg situations, but it is not altogether surprising if, as the federation alleges, there are staff in town halls who are not following procedures as set out under the new law and that these town halls are displaying negative attitudes towards requests for building licences. The suggestion is that some of these staff haven't even bothered familiarising themselves with the new law.
These negative attitudes expose the extent to which turf wars exist in the layers of public bureaucracy. If there is a hymn sheet from which all local authorities should be singing, then it hasn't been distributed. Copies of the law have presumably been distributed and have seemingly been filed. You know where.
Turf wars, fiefdoms, call them what you will, there are nevertheless reasons to be surprised by such negative attitudes. In Alcúdia, one of the town halls identified as being obstructive, the mayor had been only too happy to announce how many licence requests had been received. Such positive spin does not, however, appear to be backed up by acting on the requests.
A second reason, and one specifically to do with change of hotel use, is that town halls are set to benefit from tax revenue. Five per cent of the value of converted or changed hotels is meant to find its way into town hall coffers. This inducement, introduced once the government had backtracked, seemed sensible. If the town halls benefited, then surely they would be amenable to getting licences approved as quickly as they could.
It seemed sensible, but there was a catch. The town halls had to then undertake modernisation work of their own to the areas near to converted hotels. But then so be it; they should be doing this anyway.
The number of licence requests that Alcúdia and other towns were boasting about sounded like good news. The more renovation or conversion work, the more jobs there are. If it genuinely is the case that the town halls are being obstructive, then it demands more of a response than complaints from the hoteliers federation; the government should be banging heads and kicking backsides.
Of course, what may be happening - hence why one does have to be guarded about what the federation says - is what has long happened, which is that work is started while the licence procedures are still being sorted out. This practice was one that was highlighted after the accident in Cala Ratjada when part of a hotel being renovated collapsed and lives were lost. Among mayors who were asked about licences in the light of the accident was Alcúdia's then mayor Miguel Ferrer who admitted that this was the practice.
One reason for the practice was the length of time it took for licences to pass through town halls and then onto the relevant government bodies. Yet it was this bureaucratic time-wasting that the government had sought to cut by taking the town halls out of the equation.
But if the situation is as the federation suggests that it is, then the government should pay serious consideration to going back and revising the law to make it as had first been intended. No local authority should be in a position in the current economic climate to be erecting bureaucratic barriers to badly needed winter employment opportunities.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Building licences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Building licences. Show all posts
Friday, November 02, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa agrees to express licences for minor building works
Pollensa town hall is to simplify procedures for approving licences for building work that is technically simple and inexpensive with the intention that approval should only take a couple of days. Such licences would mostly apply to interior work but also to pavements.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, January 30, 2009
Solid Air
At the Fitur tourism trade fair in Madrid, it has been a tale of two Nadals. Two Christmases. Every day is like Christmas in a Mallorca tourism wonderland. One Nadal is Miquel of that ilk, the tourism minister, who has been granted the air of a mediaeval pope, thanks to the "decreto Nadal" (Nadal's decree) which is the one by which the island's hotels can enjoy rather loosened "procedures" in order that they can go ahead with modernisations. The papal bull, or rather its equivalent, was signed and sealed at Fitur. Hotels can increase their land areas, but not their heights; they can develop pools, spas and the like but cannot build more rooms; they still need licences, but the period for their granting is to be shortened (at least that is the hope; there are still, doubtless, those in the hotels' managements who would question whether all the parties involved in the tortuous licensing bureaucracy will actually see to a shortening).
In the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, there was a piece that asked: "why is GOB keeping quiet?". GOB, as I'm sure you all know by now, is the island's environmental pressure group. And if you don't know, what have you been doing? The headline was particularly interesting because GOB is never knowingly quiet about anything that has even the merest hint of the environment to do with it. So what caused the question? It has all to do with the Nadal decree. Some of the "procedures" do, of course, have an environmental nature, but the initiative is designed to help not just the hotels but also the construction industry and to enhance Mallorca's "quality" in light of competition from other holiday destinations. No-one really objects to any of this, including - so claims the author in the newspaper - GOB. The reason for the alleged silence, it is said, is political. Had this been an administration of the conservative Partido Popular, there would probably have been demonstrations. Maybe so, but is this really a party political thing? Nadal is also the leader of the Unió Mallorquina. This is not a left-wing party. The president of the Balearic Government may be socialist, but his administration is an eclectic mix of left and nationalist centre. Moreover, GOB has not been totally silent. As soon as the initiative was first mooted, it was argued - by the environmental lobby - that this was all a way of destroying procedures to protect the environment in the name of doing something because of the economic crisis. Which is precisely true. The crisis has brought it about, as the building trade needed a boost and someone noticed that other countries were stealing a march on Mallorca because their hotels were in better nick. At a time of economic difficulty, you do all you can to ensure what market you do have does not get eroded by factors over which you do actually have some control, i.e. the state of the hotels. So, GOB has been both vocal and silent. Maybe it has realised it needs to be a tad pragmatic, which is not a word one normally hears in association with the environmentalists.
And then there is the other Nadal - Rafa. With something of an ace and a winner down the line, he's been unfurled as the face of Mallorca and the Balearics at Fitur, thus consummating, as it were, the agreement between the government and Nadal that he should be its main man for tourism promotion. As I said when this was first discussed, it's a no-brainer. Nadal has the right image and, as importantly, he is Mallorcan, which is more than can be said for previous "faces". It is a no-brainer, but then ... . Just think about it. There is to be a TV campaign in the UK (one in Germany is already underway) which features Nadal in enticing holidaymakers to Mallorca and the Balearics. So, you are sitting there. There is a break between the two halves of the latest episode of "Corrie" and up pops Rafa. Is his appearing going to make you come to Mallorca? I don't know. He is obvious as a face of promotion, but will he make any difference? And there again, he's promoting the Balearics as opposed to just Mallorca, and one has to ask if that is right. Firstly, he is Mallorcan and not Balearican (or whatever the word is). Secondly, we had this thing quite recently (the head of the Mallorcan hotel federation) talking about the strength of the "Mallorca" brand, not of the Balearic brand. You can add to all this the facts that many holidaymakers come to Mallorca every year, and so it is questionable how effective a Rafa message is, other than as reinforcement, and also that tennis is largely a middle-class sport in the UK. Rafa may have a global appeal, but were they thinking their ABC social classifications when they offered him several million for the campaign? And I suppose, in the current circumstances, is a highly-paid tennis player going to convince people to take a holiday, or might someone offering a whacking great discount do rather better? I also suspect they don't quite have Rafa in mind when it comes to much of the all-inclusive brigade. Rafa's right, but not totally right.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - ELO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM).
Today - this is not a quiz question, it is the title of the greatest album by one of the all-time greats who died yesterday and is therefore one of the blog's occasional obits, this time celebrated with a title - John Martyn, ladies and gentlemen. God, how sad how is that. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc).
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
In the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, there was a piece that asked: "why is GOB keeping quiet?". GOB, as I'm sure you all know by now, is the island's environmental pressure group. And if you don't know, what have you been doing? The headline was particularly interesting because GOB is never knowingly quiet about anything that has even the merest hint of the environment to do with it. So what caused the question? It has all to do with the Nadal decree. Some of the "procedures" do, of course, have an environmental nature, but the initiative is designed to help not just the hotels but also the construction industry and to enhance Mallorca's "quality" in light of competition from other holiday destinations. No-one really objects to any of this, including - so claims the author in the newspaper - GOB. The reason for the alleged silence, it is said, is political. Had this been an administration of the conservative Partido Popular, there would probably have been demonstrations. Maybe so, but is this really a party political thing? Nadal is also the leader of the Unió Mallorquina. This is not a left-wing party. The president of the Balearic Government may be socialist, but his administration is an eclectic mix of left and nationalist centre. Moreover, GOB has not been totally silent. As soon as the initiative was first mooted, it was argued - by the environmental lobby - that this was all a way of destroying procedures to protect the environment in the name of doing something because of the economic crisis. Which is precisely true. The crisis has brought it about, as the building trade needed a boost and someone noticed that other countries were stealing a march on Mallorca because their hotels were in better nick. At a time of economic difficulty, you do all you can to ensure what market you do have does not get eroded by factors over which you do actually have some control, i.e. the state of the hotels. So, GOB has been both vocal and silent. Maybe it has realised it needs to be a tad pragmatic, which is not a word one normally hears in association with the environmentalists.
And then there is the other Nadal - Rafa. With something of an ace and a winner down the line, he's been unfurled as the face of Mallorca and the Balearics at Fitur, thus consummating, as it were, the agreement between the government and Nadal that he should be its main man for tourism promotion. As I said when this was first discussed, it's a no-brainer. Nadal has the right image and, as importantly, he is Mallorcan, which is more than can be said for previous "faces". It is a no-brainer, but then ... . Just think about it. There is to be a TV campaign in the UK (one in Germany is already underway) which features Nadal in enticing holidaymakers to Mallorca and the Balearics. So, you are sitting there. There is a break between the two halves of the latest episode of "Corrie" and up pops Rafa. Is his appearing going to make you come to Mallorca? I don't know. He is obvious as a face of promotion, but will he make any difference? And there again, he's promoting the Balearics as opposed to just Mallorca, and one has to ask if that is right. Firstly, he is Mallorcan and not Balearican (or whatever the word is). Secondly, we had this thing quite recently (the head of the Mallorcan hotel federation) talking about the strength of the "Mallorca" brand, not of the Balearic brand. You can add to all this the facts that many holidaymakers come to Mallorca every year, and so it is questionable how effective a Rafa message is, other than as reinforcement, and also that tennis is largely a middle-class sport in the UK. Rafa may have a global appeal, but were they thinking their ABC social classifications when they offered him several million for the campaign? And I suppose, in the current circumstances, is a highly-paid tennis player going to convince people to take a holiday, or might someone offering a whacking great discount do rather better? I also suspect they don't quite have Rafa in mind when it comes to much of the all-inclusive brigade. Rafa's right, but not totally right.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - ELO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM).
Today - this is not a quiz question, it is the title of the greatest album by one of the all-time greats who died yesterday and is therefore one of the blog's occasional obits, this time celebrated with a title - John Martyn, ladies and gentlemen. God, how sad how is that. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc).
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
In The Middle
In my review of 2008, one of the "highlights" (if one can use such a word) was that noted for 14 June - "the politics of language took to the air with demands that Air Berlin use Catalan". This provoked further comment and someone accused me of a certain anti-Catalan bias, which - as those who have been reading this blog over the years may realise - is not the case. What is, is the fact that I believe, in matters of language, that pragmatism should come before idealism.
But why am I bringing this up again? Well, because it is being brought up again by no less a figure than the president of the tourism promotion body ("Fomento del Turismo") who also happens to be the director-general for Spain and Portugal of ... yep, Air Berlin. This is a gentleman who goes by the wonderfully anglo-suggestive Germano-Iberian name of Alvaro Middelmann; the suggestion being that of a "middle man", but - as far as I am aware - "middel" is not a German word (it's mittel). Nevertheless, it is a name that hints at feet in both camps - of Spain and Germany, but he is not someone who tramps a linguistic middle ground. He's not got a lot of time for the Catalan argument.
Reported in "The Diario", Middelmann, at a tourism conference, reckons that the Balearics lose "the opportunity to attract many people with a high spending capacity" because of the language issue. He takes the line that, because the Balearics are Spain, the Castilian language should be respected. There are a lot of people who would agree with him and who would argue that it should have supremacy over Catalan in the islands and not dual language status. Middelmann, venturing into the politics of language arena, argues that the conservative Partido Popular is partly to blame for having allowed the pro-Catalan situation to have occurred, which - for those in the PP who have made their occasional anti-Catalan outbursts in the past (leader Rajoy and Calvià mayor Delgado, for example) - will not sound reassuring.
When Middelmann refers to losing people who might come and spend a fair amount of moolah on the islands, he is presumably referring to - in the main - those from Castilian-speaking parts of the Peninsula. Mayor Delgado has, of course, made this point himself (18 December: Don't Worry). If Sr. Middelmann isn't referring to them, then I'm not quite sure what his point is. For mostly everyone else, the language issue is a non-subject. How many people coming from the UK know that there are two official languages in the Balearics and that one of them - the derivations of Catalan locally - are the native tongue? Very, very few, I would suggest. And there would still be very, very few among those who have had repeat holidays, and very, very few of those who could utter a single word in Catalan. In Castilian, yes, but Catalan, no.
The language debate does not affect your everyday tourist from countries other than Spain, and nor should it. If tourists can speak a language, then it will be Castilian and not Catalan. What are tourists? Customers. What do you give customers? What they need, not what you might like them to have. Yet there are those who persist in bringing the language debate up in the context of tourism - some of them fanatics in pursuit of the fatuous. No-one is going to accede to some sort of Catalan dogmatism if it harms their tourist business, but Middelmann is just the latest to suggest that it is doing just that.
His address was part of a wider attack on the political class as a whole and the current Balearic Government in particular. He singled out the administration for criticism in terms of delays in granting licences for hotel renovations. On the same day as Middelmann was levelling this criticism, the tourism minister, Miquel Nadal, was suggesting that the simplification of procedures and the availability of credit to enable these renovations was just about to kick in. You will recall that these are all part of a drive to, at least in part, combat the economic crisis by giving the construction industry a leg-up. Middelmann may well be right to say that there have been delays, but, as has been said before, much of the problem resides with the town halls and their dealings with different government ministries. You see, it just goes round and round. The government decides on a course of action - in this case to cut bureaucracy in the granting of licences - but it is ultimately the body which, via its ministries, holds the whole thing up. Crazy.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Genesis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MzShg7yXik). Today's title - girl group, which one?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
But why am I bringing this up again? Well, because it is being brought up again by no less a figure than the president of the tourism promotion body ("Fomento del Turismo") who also happens to be the director-general for Spain and Portugal of ... yep, Air Berlin. This is a gentleman who goes by the wonderfully anglo-suggestive Germano-Iberian name of Alvaro Middelmann; the suggestion being that of a "middle man", but - as far as I am aware - "middel" is not a German word (it's mittel). Nevertheless, it is a name that hints at feet in both camps - of Spain and Germany, but he is not someone who tramps a linguistic middle ground. He's not got a lot of time for the Catalan argument.
Reported in "The Diario", Middelmann, at a tourism conference, reckons that the Balearics lose "the opportunity to attract many people with a high spending capacity" because of the language issue. He takes the line that, because the Balearics are Spain, the Castilian language should be respected. There are a lot of people who would agree with him and who would argue that it should have supremacy over Catalan in the islands and not dual language status. Middelmann, venturing into the politics of language arena, argues that the conservative Partido Popular is partly to blame for having allowed the pro-Catalan situation to have occurred, which - for those in the PP who have made their occasional anti-Catalan outbursts in the past (leader Rajoy and Calvià mayor Delgado, for example) - will not sound reassuring.
When Middelmann refers to losing people who might come and spend a fair amount of moolah on the islands, he is presumably referring to - in the main - those from Castilian-speaking parts of the Peninsula. Mayor Delgado has, of course, made this point himself (18 December: Don't Worry). If Sr. Middelmann isn't referring to them, then I'm not quite sure what his point is. For mostly everyone else, the language issue is a non-subject. How many people coming from the UK know that there are two official languages in the Balearics and that one of them - the derivations of Catalan locally - are the native tongue? Very, very few, I would suggest. And there would still be very, very few among those who have had repeat holidays, and very, very few of those who could utter a single word in Catalan. In Castilian, yes, but Catalan, no.
The language debate does not affect your everyday tourist from countries other than Spain, and nor should it. If tourists can speak a language, then it will be Castilian and not Catalan. What are tourists? Customers. What do you give customers? What they need, not what you might like them to have. Yet there are those who persist in bringing the language debate up in the context of tourism - some of them fanatics in pursuit of the fatuous. No-one is going to accede to some sort of Catalan dogmatism if it harms their tourist business, but Middelmann is just the latest to suggest that it is doing just that.
His address was part of a wider attack on the political class as a whole and the current Balearic Government in particular. He singled out the administration for criticism in terms of delays in granting licences for hotel renovations. On the same day as Middelmann was levelling this criticism, the tourism minister, Miquel Nadal, was suggesting that the simplification of procedures and the availability of credit to enable these renovations was just about to kick in. You will recall that these are all part of a drive to, at least in part, combat the economic crisis by giving the construction industry a leg-up. Middelmann may well be right to say that there have been delays, but, as has been said before, much of the problem resides with the town halls and their dealings with different government ministries. You see, it just goes round and round. The government decides on a course of action - in this case to cut bureaucracy in the granting of licences - but it is ultimately the body which, via its ministries, holds the whole thing up. Crazy.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Genesis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MzShg7yXik). Today's title - girl group, which one?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Alternate Title
The Pollensa "alternative". It's not some sort of promotional slogan, though it wouldn't be a bad one, if I could actually think what it might apply to. No, the Pollensa alternative is a political thing; it is the alternative of the United Left (Esquerra Unida) and Els Verds (The Greens). From what I can make out, it is an alternative of one, namely Pepe García, whose name crops up as regularly, if not more so in matters to do with Pollensa, than arch publicity seekers, the environmental group GOB. One-man alternative or not, García does certainly seem bent on getting everyone to know who he is. When you have a target like Pollensa's poor old mayor, who everyone seems to want to have a pop at, it seems that you can't really go wrong. I imagine Sr. García gets up in the morning, and thinks, now what can I do to make the mayor's life a misery today? Ah yes, I know. And so it follows. Whatever it is. And the thought he had the other day was to do with Cala San Vicente. Poor old Cala San Vicente. Lovely little place, but dying on its feet, not that it has feet as such, more a disabled carriage slowly sinking into the sand of oblivion.
Anything with the hint of the new or cutting out a bit of nature, and GOB are onto it like a lion hunting its prey, closely followed - in Pollensa - by the alternative; the alternative Sr. García, that is. Or maybe GOB follow him. Who knows? Anyway, things have not been all sweetness and light down CSV way for some while, owing to a new development of apartments by the Cala Molins (which is the lower part of Cala San Vicente, for those of you who know the place). Some pines have been eliminated to make way for the development, but the real beef at present is the presence of a bloody great crane, about which - apparently - the alternative has received complaints from neighbours. The alternative goes on to suggest that perhaps the appropriate licence that allows the use of the crane is not in effect. Oh God no, here we go, more bloody licence stuff. And accordingly, the alternative will probably issue a "denuncia". Of course they're going to use a crane. I can point to a crane near to me that has been there for months - during the stalled summer works on a new development and now beyond. Cranes are fairly useful things to have around when doing some building. But down in the Cala, such things should not be allowed. Ridiculous. And one comes back to all this equally ridiculous nonsense about licences and ever more ridiculous nonsense of a denuncia being filed, which means that the police have to get involved, go investigate, hold things up in all likelihood. It is just so silly, but that is how it is here. Ridiculous and silly. Just build the damn apartments, and have done with it. They might even be to the benefit of Cala San Vicente, because I doubt that constantly moaning politicians are.
Bamboo on the beach
Remember my talking about the bamboo barriers for sand and the fact that there weren't any (17 December: Raising Sand)? Well, in Playa de Muro, at any rate, they've erected them again. Must have happened over the past couple of days. So, with a bit of luck, the sand will stay put - on the beach - which is the point of them. But why, if keeping the sand where it belongs, is so important, do they not put them up in November? Indeed, why not just keep them there all year? It's not as if there isn't wind in winter. Don't understand this. There again, all the detritus that has piled up on the beaches - and there seems to be much more than normal this winter - will have to be shifted at some point. That means a bulldozer or several. And that also means a whole load of sand being scooped up.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Belfast Child", Simple Minds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFIMJxV2tjI). Today's title - who, and what was alternate? (Alternate, especially in the US, is widely used to mean alternative; in case you were wondering.)
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Anything with the hint of the new or cutting out a bit of nature, and GOB are onto it like a lion hunting its prey, closely followed - in Pollensa - by the alternative; the alternative Sr. García, that is. Or maybe GOB follow him. Who knows? Anyway, things have not been all sweetness and light down CSV way for some while, owing to a new development of apartments by the Cala Molins (which is the lower part of Cala San Vicente, for those of you who know the place). Some pines have been eliminated to make way for the development, but the real beef at present is the presence of a bloody great crane, about which - apparently - the alternative has received complaints from neighbours. The alternative goes on to suggest that perhaps the appropriate licence that allows the use of the crane is not in effect. Oh God no, here we go, more bloody licence stuff. And accordingly, the alternative will probably issue a "denuncia". Of course they're going to use a crane. I can point to a crane near to me that has been there for months - during the stalled summer works on a new development and now beyond. Cranes are fairly useful things to have around when doing some building. But down in the Cala, such things should not be allowed. Ridiculous. And one comes back to all this equally ridiculous nonsense about licences and ever more ridiculous nonsense of a denuncia being filed, which means that the police have to get involved, go investigate, hold things up in all likelihood. It is just so silly, but that is how it is here. Ridiculous and silly. Just build the damn apartments, and have done with it. They might even be to the benefit of Cala San Vicente, because I doubt that constantly moaning politicians are.
Bamboo on the beach
Remember my talking about the bamboo barriers for sand and the fact that there weren't any (17 December: Raising Sand)? Well, in Playa de Muro, at any rate, they've erected them again. Must have happened over the past couple of days. So, with a bit of luck, the sand will stay put - on the beach - which is the point of them. But why, if keeping the sand where it belongs, is so important, do they not put them up in November? Indeed, why not just keep them there all year? It's not as if there isn't wind in winter. Don't understand this. There again, all the detritus that has piled up on the beaches - and there seems to be much more than normal this winter - will have to be shifted at some point. That means a bulldozer or several. And that also means a whole load of sand being scooped up.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Belfast Child", Simple Minds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFIMJxV2tjI). Today's title - who, and what was alternate? (Alternate, especially in the US, is widely used to mean alternative; in case you were wondering.)
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Every Day Is Like Sunday
For all the talk of hotel renovation work proceeding without licences having been granted - as was the case with the Son Moll hotel in Cala Ratjada where four workers lost their lives when it collapsed - when it comes to the blue-chip hotels, you can be pretty sure that everything's tickety-boo before one brick is laid or one sod of earth is turned by a mechanical digger. Take the Hotel Formentor, for example. For those who may not know, this is the exclusive pile on the Formentor peninsula, one about which much old eulogistic nonsense has been written in the past, a goodly portion of it on the hotel's own website, which now - sadly - appears to no longer exist; at least, I can't find it. But, never fear, because I have a cunning archive system and can give you an insight into the mangled and pompous English that some nutter came up with: “respecting the classical beauty of the Mediterranean landscape that surrounds it, the hotel does not refuse the modern life’s new-technological advances that assure comfort to its guests in every aspect”. There is a background historical aspect to the hotel, which is that it was opened as the Depression kicked in back in 1929. Omens not so good for renovation work now, I'd say.
In internet terms though, the hotel seems now to have been corporatised, finding itself featured on the Barceló site and having even been dubbed the Barceló Formentor. Anyway, the deal is that the hotel needs some renovation work doing, and has done for some while. Because it is so prestigious, or so it is alleged, what would otherwise be a matter of virtually zero interest, has become yet another political rumpus in the wider metropolis that is Pollensa and the fiefdom of Mayor Cerdà. The local politicos and, of course, enviro big-mouths, GOB, are all at it.
The latest is that the central environment ministry is demanding a wider environmental impact study than that which has so far been presented. It claims that there is a lack of information in respect of, for example, the swimming-pools with salt water that form part of the renovation and re-development. So far, so environmentally dull. However, the opposition Partido Popular in Pollensa is blaming the town hall administration not just for the need for a further study and for the greater constraints being imposed by the environmental ministry but also for a discrepancy in the annual municipal budget to the tune of some 600 grand, this being the tax for the re-development construction, an amount that has not been forthcoming because the town hall has not yet granted the licence.
At this point, it all gets rather confusing, and the mayor is attacking the PP over its demagoguery, or something like that. But what is quite interesting is that this case highlights exactly the sorts of issues as to why work goes ahead without licences. Firstly, there is the tax, which, one presumes, is heftier in this instance than would normally be so. Then there is the fact that the central environment ministry (to say nothing of that with responsibility for the coasts) has to have its say. Added to this is the hamstrung nature of the town hall who cannot give the go-ahead to the developers. And on top of that, the opposition and whatever other group has to have its say as well. You do begin to realise that, were it not for by-passing some of the regulations, nothing would get done here. The Formentor hotel is one of the best-known of the island's hotels not just of those in the area. Of course, they want to get it right, but just how long does it take to get things right?
Yesterday was a public holiday of course. It felt, like all public holidays, as though it was a Sunday. A dull, nothing-happening, grey Sunday (though for Spaniards something was happening). It will come as some consolation to those of you in icy Britain to know that yesterday's weather here was the precursor to a particularly cold snap. Snow as low as 100 metres today apparently; and it is cold and very, very wet. This is not as we have known recent Januarys, which have been generally fine. But that just goes to prove, again, that the local weather in winter is not something to be relied on. Winter tourism? Hmm.
Might I just say - thanks ever so much for all the best wishes following my unplanned Christmas entertainment. I'm feeling fine. In fact, I'm feeling better than I have for ages. Your emails have been much appreciated.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Ladytron, "Evil" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmLmiIXPRoY); and for "Destroy", because it is so great, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqGoHouoE0. Today's title - no clue; easy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
In internet terms though, the hotel seems now to have been corporatised, finding itself featured on the Barceló site and having even been dubbed the Barceló Formentor. Anyway, the deal is that the hotel needs some renovation work doing, and has done for some while. Because it is so prestigious, or so it is alleged, what would otherwise be a matter of virtually zero interest, has become yet another political rumpus in the wider metropolis that is Pollensa and the fiefdom of Mayor Cerdà. The local politicos and, of course, enviro big-mouths, GOB, are all at it.
The latest is that the central environment ministry is demanding a wider environmental impact study than that which has so far been presented. It claims that there is a lack of information in respect of, for example, the swimming-pools with salt water that form part of the renovation and re-development. So far, so environmentally dull. However, the opposition Partido Popular in Pollensa is blaming the town hall administration not just for the need for a further study and for the greater constraints being imposed by the environmental ministry but also for a discrepancy in the annual municipal budget to the tune of some 600 grand, this being the tax for the re-development construction, an amount that has not been forthcoming because the town hall has not yet granted the licence.
At this point, it all gets rather confusing, and the mayor is attacking the PP over its demagoguery, or something like that. But what is quite interesting is that this case highlights exactly the sorts of issues as to why work goes ahead without licences. Firstly, there is the tax, which, one presumes, is heftier in this instance than would normally be so. Then there is the fact that the central environment ministry (to say nothing of that with responsibility for the coasts) has to have its say. Added to this is the hamstrung nature of the town hall who cannot give the go-ahead to the developers. And on top of that, the opposition and whatever other group has to have its say as well. You do begin to realise that, were it not for by-passing some of the regulations, nothing would get done here. The Formentor hotel is one of the best-known of the island's hotels not just of those in the area. Of course, they want to get it right, but just how long does it take to get things right?
Yesterday was a public holiday of course. It felt, like all public holidays, as though it was a Sunday. A dull, nothing-happening, grey Sunday (though for Spaniards something was happening). It will come as some consolation to those of you in icy Britain to know that yesterday's weather here was the precursor to a particularly cold snap. Snow as low as 100 metres today apparently; and it is cold and very, very wet. This is not as we have known recent Januarys, which have been generally fine. But that just goes to prove, again, that the local weather in winter is not something to be relied on. Winter tourism? Hmm.
Might I just say - thanks ever so much for all the best wishes following my unplanned Christmas entertainment. I'm feeling fine. In fact, I'm feeling better than I have for ages. Your emails have been much appreciated.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Ladytron, "Evil" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmLmiIXPRoY); and for "Destroy", because it is so great, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqGoHouoE0. Today's title - no clue; easy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, December 22, 2008
That's Just The Way It Is
There was a very revealing report in "The Diario" yesterday. The paper had spoken with mayors around the island and discovered a universal admission that works related to hotel renovations occur without licences having been granted. The typical period of time needed to go through the licensing process is six months - at least. The mayor of Alcúdia was one who admitted that this happened. The reasons for this revolve around the lack of qualified personnel to hurry along the process and the necessity of dealing with other agencies, most notably the ministries for the environment and the coasts. Miquel Ferrer, Alcúdia's mayor, emphasised that, regardless of the licence situation, works had to be undertaken with the correct levels of safety.
This is the context, therefore, of the Son Moll hotel collapse in Cala Ratjada. The town hall of Capdepera, that under which Cala Ratjada falls, is by no means the only administration that "allows" (inverted commas stressed) these works to go ahead. The admission by the mayors, which will come as absolutely no surprise but is nevertheless extremely significant, throws into relief the background to the tragedy of the deaths of the workers at Son Moll. The point is that it is pretty much accepted practice that work happens without licences being in place. It may not be right, but virtually it is the de facto state of affairs - the way it is. The Son Moll case has merely acted to highlight what has been going on and does go on.
One has to ask the question. Was the absence of a licence the cause of the accident? This is obviously one for the investigators. But if all other procedures were in order, as is being claimed, can the lack of a licence really be held as a contributory or crucial factor, especially when such a lack is known to be a fact of building works for hotels? The general workers union has been arguing that the mayor of Capdepera should be indicted for not preventing the renovation at Son Moll. Maybe it has a point, but the union will know, as well as anyone else, what the system is.
We're getting into deep legal water, so I don't intend to go far, but the licence issue may just be, if not an irrelevance, then a less-than-crucial factor. I said the other day that the case reflects a societal failure - one of accepting that certain rules have to be, how can I put it, massaged. But it demonstrates also an administrative failure. When the Balearic Government announced that it would seek to reduce bureaucracy in order to facilitate the zero- or low-interest-financed modernisations of hotels, one hotelier expressed his doubts that the town halls would be quite so amenable. Yet, it isn't just the town halls. This appears to be a multi-agency failure, and one possibly with a degree of turf wars amongst the various bodies and their organisational cultures.
If one takes Alcúdia as an example - and remember that it was in Alcúdia that Sunwing went ahead with a modernisation and received a hefty fine for doing so - imagine what would happen if all the hotels applied for a licence to undertake works? Total logjam. Consider just how many hotels there are, not just in Alcúdia, but across the island. Their renovations are a part of the wider construction industry, one upon which the island's economy is so dependent. Yet, the administrative system behind the industry cannot cope. It's small wonder that work goes ahead without all the relevant permissions. And everyone appears to know that this is so. How many other modernisations are currently in progress across the island that are similar to Son Moll? If indeed it is the case that the owners filed their application in August, one might say that they should have waited till the end of the 2009 season before proceeding - by which time, one presumes, the licence would have been effected. But that would lengthen even further an already drawn-out process. Businesses and indeed the whole economy cannot be stalled or held hostage by the inadequacy of the administrative system.
It has taken the deaths of the men at Son Moll to bring the whole licence issue to the fore. It should now be down to the Balearic Government to resolve how the system of licensing can be made more efficient. I wish them luck.
Yesterday was a day for revealing stories. "The Diario" has also turned up something in respect of the projected golf development on the Son Bosc finca in Muro. And that is ... The mayor of Muro, who has supported the development, has a business association with the head of the Garden hotels group, which in turn is one of the companies that has a major shareholding in another company - Golf Playa de Muro. Another local hotel chain - Grupotel - is also a shareholder.
The mayor says that he has "no relation to or direct interest in the golf course". The exact business association is that he is a member of a further company, one in the name of the head of Garden hotels, with the same Inca address, but one established for activities on the mainland. In this respect, he doesn't. The connection to the golf development is, therefore, rather distant in terms of the companies involved, but the mere fact of any association is bound to raise questions. And that is what the paper has done. No-one is suggesting anything untoward, but the mayor's independence when it comes to what is a controversial development may appear to have been compromised.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Madonna, "La Isla Bonita". Today's title - American best known, well only really known, for this.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
This is the context, therefore, of the Son Moll hotel collapse in Cala Ratjada. The town hall of Capdepera, that under which Cala Ratjada falls, is by no means the only administration that "allows" (inverted commas stressed) these works to go ahead. The admission by the mayors, which will come as absolutely no surprise but is nevertheless extremely significant, throws into relief the background to the tragedy of the deaths of the workers at Son Moll. The point is that it is pretty much accepted practice that work happens without licences being in place. It may not be right, but virtually it is the de facto state of affairs - the way it is. The Son Moll case has merely acted to highlight what has been going on and does go on.
One has to ask the question. Was the absence of a licence the cause of the accident? This is obviously one for the investigators. But if all other procedures were in order, as is being claimed, can the lack of a licence really be held as a contributory or crucial factor, especially when such a lack is known to be a fact of building works for hotels? The general workers union has been arguing that the mayor of Capdepera should be indicted for not preventing the renovation at Son Moll. Maybe it has a point, but the union will know, as well as anyone else, what the system is.
We're getting into deep legal water, so I don't intend to go far, but the licence issue may just be, if not an irrelevance, then a less-than-crucial factor. I said the other day that the case reflects a societal failure - one of accepting that certain rules have to be, how can I put it, massaged. But it demonstrates also an administrative failure. When the Balearic Government announced that it would seek to reduce bureaucracy in order to facilitate the zero- or low-interest-financed modernisations of hotels, one hotelier expressed his doubts that the town halls would be quite so amenable. Yet, it isn't just the town halls. This appears to be a multi-agency failure, and one possibly with a degree of turf wars amongst the various bodies and their organisational cultures.
If one takes Alcúdia as an example - and remember that it was in Alcúdia that Sunwing went ahead with a modernisation and received a hefty fine for doing so - imagine what would happen if all the hotels applied for a licence to undertake works? Total logjam. Consider just how many hotels there are, not just in Alcúdia, but across the island. Their renovations are a part of the wider construction industry, one upon which the island's economy is so dependent. Yet, the administrative system behind the industry cannot cope. It's small wonder that work goes ahead without all the relevant permissions. And everyone appears to know that this is so. How many other modernisations are currently in progress across the island that are similar to Son Moll? If indeed it is the case that the owners filed their application in August, one might say that they should have waited till the end of the 2009 season before proceeding - by which time, one presumes, the licence would have been effected. But that would lengthen even further an already drawn-out process. Businesses and indeed the whole economy cannot be stalled or held hostage by the inadequacy of the administrative system.
It has taken the deaths of the men at Son Moll to bring the whole licence issue to the fore. It should now be down to the Balearic Government to resolve how the system of licensing can be made more efficient. I wish them luck.
Yesterday was a day for revealing stories. "The Diario" has also turned up something in respect of the projected golf development on the Son Bosc finca in Muro. And that is ... The mayor of Muro, who has supported the development, has a business association with the head of the Garden hotels group, which in turn is one of the companies that has a major shareholding in another company - Golf Playa de Muro. Another local hotel chain - Grupotel - is also a shareholder.
The mayor says that he has "no relation to or direct interest in the golf course". The exact business association is that he is a member of a further company, one in the name of the head of Garden hotels, with the same Inca address, but one established for activities on the mainland. In this respect, he doesn't. The connection to the golf development is, therefore, rather distant in terms of the companies involved, but the mere fact of any association is bound to raise questions. And that is what the paper has done. No-one is suggesting anything untoward, but the mayor's independence when it comes to what is a controversial development may appear to have been compromised.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Madonna, "La Isla Bonita". Today's title - American best known, well only really known, for this.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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