The Death Sentence Of San Pedro

If you happen to be a tourist wanting to have a camping holiday in Mallorca, it is quite possible that when consulting Google you will find links to camping in Colonia Sant Pere, the small resort in Arta on the bay of Alcudia. There will be only two things misleading about information that these links may provide. Firstly, it isn't camping. Secondly, it has been closed for years.

As is well known, there is no such thing as an official tourist camping site in Mallorca. Camping San Pedro, for which you will indeed find references which suggest it is still in operation, always had a misleading name. There was no camping under canvas. Instead, there were a number of small bungalows - 88 (28.5 square metres in size) - on a complex of 23,000 square metres with a swimming-pool, a restaurant, a snack bar and a couple of tennis courts. To give an idea as to what 23,000 square metres represent, think of three football pitches next to each other and you won't be far off.

The complex has been closed since 2003 and in 2006 the Council of Mallorca opened proceedings on the grounds that it constituted an infraction of urban planning and that the bungalows were illegal and could not be legalised. These proceedings sought the demolition of the bungalows. An appeal was filed by the owners, UPA S.A., which in July 2012 was dismissed by what is effectively the cabinet at the Council of Mallorca.

Since then and also of course for several years prior, the complex has descended into a state of abandonment and degradation. It now offers a pretty sorry sight in a gentle little resort that really could have done without the controversy, but the end of the complex is still seemingly nowhere in sight. The demolition order has been dragged through the courts and continues to be dragged through them.

The background to all this is, suffice to say, incredibly complicated. Here, as is often the case in Mallorca, is an example of a collision of different and changing administrations and different legal interpretations. One of the odder aspects of the interest of the courts in the affair was that in 2011 the Balearic High Court slashed a penalty on the owners that had originally been set at 900,000 euros to just over 17,000. The owners were to then place their own compensation claim against the regional government (and so not the Council of Mallorca) of more than three million euros for damages suffered over many years.

The decision of the High Court was clearly favourable where the owners were concerned, but it didn't remove the demolition demand initiated by the Council (and so not the government), while it was being said that the tourism ministry, i.e. the government, had on three occasions - in 1994, 1999 and 2004 - determined that the bungalows were authorised or authorisable. How absurdly complex and contradictory opinion can be. There was the ministry apparently saying authorised or authorisable and the Council of Mallorca saying illegal or not legalisable.

It is mind-boggling attempting to get the bottom of the affair but essentially it seems to centre on the fact that the bungalows were deemed to be permanent structures when they are in fact prefabs which, it is argued, are dismountable and removable. Moreover, the bungalows weren't originally prefabs with concrete. They were wood, but it was the tourism ministry which instructed the change to prefabs. So, if the ministry had said this, then what was the problem? Well, then there was an issue as to how easily movable they might be, and so the arguments went on and on.

But over and above the legal argument and the apparent discrepancies between the government and the Council, there was the political angle. It is claimed that the whole business was directed by one party - the United Left-Greens in Arta, which had denounced the prefab work at the end of the last century. Move forward some years to 2013 and there was a slightly different political element agitating for demolition - the Iniciativa Verds (Greens) in Arta and the co-ordinator of the Iniciativa Verds in Mallorca, i.e. David Abril, now eco-warrior-in-chief with Més.

Supporters of the complex maintain that a great injustice has been done and that there had been a petition signed by more than 1,500 local businesspeople, residents and holidaymakers demanding that the San Pedro be allowed to continue. But that support may well have ebbed, given the ongoing deterioration of the complex.

There's demolition and there's demolition. Sometimes it's necessary because of flagrant abuses or obsolescence, but it can also seem punitive. In effect, a death sentence was placed on San Pedro. But what harm was it ever really doing? A relaxing holiday village with small bungalows and nothing obtrusive. What seems like political vandalism condemned it.

Demolishing History In Pollensa

Pollensa town hall has been busying itself with drawing up a catalogue of properties and other sites which should be granted protected status on account of their historical, artistic or architectural interest. A nice job for someone you would think, wandering around the glorious old town, strolling along Puerto Pollensa's pinewalk, venturing into less central or more rural parts of the municipality, and doing this with the purpose of identifying sites that should qualify for protection. Nice job, but not a job without some controversy.

Firstly, there was the very centre of Pollensa itself. Opposition parties refused to approve the catalogue for this part of the town because they had not had sufficient time to consider its content. Now, there is renewed controversy over two particular buildings which have long been the subject of argument and concern. One is in Puerto Pollensa, the other just a bit away from the centre of Pollensa town.

The pinewalk in Puerto Pollensa has a status all of its own. It is a bejewelled part of this resort jewel in Mallorca's crown. It is a pine-tree-lined, narrow, stone-pathed, seaside promenade that is loved by resident and visitor alike. It is one that both resident and visitor wishes to see preserved in its oldy-worldy Mallorcan state. It has not been immune to some development, but there have been concerns that there may be more, thus removing some of this largely unspoilt charm.

There is a cottage on the pinewalk known as Can Franc (aka Can Llobera). Doubts as to its future first surfaced in 2008. They resurfaced in 2011. At the time, Pollensa town hall sought to calm fears that this cottage, some one hundred years old, was to be demolished and to be replaced by a development of apartments. Opposition parties had voiced these fears. The town hall criticised the opposition for having raised these fears, saying that no application had been made for any development.

The catalogue for buildings that would be given protected status does not include Can Franc. The town hall says that it contacted the Council of Mallorca in order that Council technicians could decide if there were reasons to award protected status. If the Council said yes, it would then assume responsibility. However, this is a responsibility which comes with a slight catch. If an authority, the Council or the town hall, establishes protected status, then there could be a demand for compensation. And what might this compensation be for? Refusal to develop the site. It is understood that there is a licence for Can Franc's demolition and subsequent development as apartments.

The other building, the one near to the centre of Pollensa, is the old carpet factory, Can Morató. It is also not included in the catalogue. It is, however, protected by the Council of Mallorca, but it may not be for very much longer. The factory, which is in an awful state and a potentially dangerous one too, is likely to be de-listed and declared a ruin. If so, it would come down.

Reasons for and against preserving Can Morató are different to those regarding Can Franc. Most obviously, it is not directly in a tourist area. Almost equally as obviously, it is a deplorable sight, which Can Franc isn't. However, it is of historic interest. It is a little short of one hundred years old and is representative of Pollensa's textiles history, one that today is best known for the textile innovations of Marti Vicenç. There is also the fact that the factory falls within the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Tramuntana mountains. One aspect of this award was that buildings should be preserved. There is a fear that, were Can Morató to be demolished, UNESCO might shift the boundary of this site, potentially excluding, therefore, part of Pollensa. Indeed, the possibility of demolition was denounced to UNESCO over a year ago. Nevertheless, Can Morató, as with Can Franc, looks destined to meet a demolished end.

Photo: Can Franc, supplied by the Alternativa per Pollença in 2011

* For Can Morató, see http://mallorcaphotoblog.com/2012/06/02/industrial-heritage

MALLORCA TODAY - Fine against Pollensa mayor is halved

The Balearics High Court has considered an appeal by Pollensa mayor Tomeu Cifre against the fine imposed on him for the failure of the town hall to have demolished an illegally built house on the Calvari steps. Cifre had sought the withdrawal of the fine set back in July but the court has dismissed this, halving the fine to an amount equivalent to fifty euros instead.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

Prefab Sprout: Colonia Sant Pere

I once had a brainstorm in a shop's music department. I had gone in with the intention of buying a Primal Scream CD. When I got home, I realised that I had one by Prefab Sprout. I could only attribute the error to some form of temporary alphabetic dyslexia. Or more likely, the CDs had been next to each other in the rack and I hadn't been paying attention.

Character similarity apart, Primal Scream and Prefab Sprout bore no similarity, especially as Paddy McAloon had by now embarked upon his reinvention as a singing cowboy; in total contrast, therefore, to Bobby Gillespie. You might find it odd that the decidedly odd little coastal town of Colonia Sant Pere should bring this recollection to mind, but trust me, there is some sense as to why it should.

Colonia Sant Pere is one of the last stops on the bay of Alcúdia. Being one of the last stops, no one takes a great deal of notice of it, which probably helps to explain its oddness. The great sweep of the bay has at either end rocky coastline and mountainous elevation. In between are the miles of virtually unbroken sandy beach that Puerto Alcúdia, Playa de Muro and Can Picafort boast.

This sandy beach starts to break down as you head east past Can Picafort. There are still stretches of beach, including an artificial one in Colonia, but rocks become more evident as do small coves dotted along the bay as it reaches its end at Cap Farrutx. Colonia is Mallorca resort land that time forgot, rather like its neighbours Son Serra de Marina and the disturbingly named Betlem which, even if its name wasn't derived from Bedlam, sounds as though it should have been.

If the resorts of the bay of Alcúdia were rock groups, then Puerto Alcúdia would be Primal Scream and "Get Your Rocks Off". Colonia, on the other hand, would be Prefab Sprout, either in its sweetly gentle "Steve McQueen" phase or once McAloon had decided he was Jesse James with the Steve McQueen later-life full set. It is Wild West resort land without the wild, a one-horse town just like Son Serra except when Son Serra's beach is full of horses from Rancho Grande, the owner of which I once described, in good Bon Jovi terms, as a cowboy on a steel horse (he rides a quad as well as a horse, you see).

Colonia Sant Pere didn't exist until the late nineteenth century. It was a colony created specifically so that people could move from the island's interior at a time when there was a need for new parts of the island to be settled and cultivated. It went into decline and between 1940 and 1970 its population fell by a quarter. Tourism revived Colonia but only up to a point. Off the main highway between Alcúdia and Artà by several kilometres of narrow road, it has never been somewhere capable of supporting anything more than a small tourism industry. Nevertheless, in the late 1990s came the expansion of its marina together with another development - tourist bungalows.

The first few bungalows were made of wood but then a whole load more - prefabs - sprouted up, creating a tourist enclave like a superior Jaywick Sands. They could only have emerged in somewhere such as Colonia, stuck away on the bay, right off the beaten track and largely unnoticed by anyone. Except of course that the prefabs didn't go unnoticed. By 2006 the legal system had swung into operation, and six years later a demolition notice hangs over the prefabs that have been unused for years.

The owners have the right to appeal against the Council of Mallorca demolition order, though as the prefabs have apparently been illegal all along, it is hard to see what grounds there are for appeal.

It's a shame. Colonia is a part of weird Mallorca, which is why I like it. It is somewhere, as with Son Serra, that I struggle, as do others, to make sense of. But its oddness is what makes it, and its sense lies with the fact that it isn't a Puerto Alcúdia, full of primal scream and dominating hotels. Colonia is a small, quiet place in which a bloke with a long beard can pluck on an acoustic guitar and sing cowboy songs. It doesn't really have hotels, it doesn't have anything much at all, apart from a strange enchantment, and if this also means some unusual little prefabs, then why not. It is a place that exists outside of Mallorca's hotelism and is evidence as to why this hotelism is not the be all and end all. 


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Intrigue surrounds Sóller's Rocamar hotel

The Rocamar hotel in Puerto Sóller is one of Mallorca's best-known eyesores. Closed since 1999, its fate has been a matter of intrigue ever since. Now it emerges that the Balearic Government will be paying nearly one million euros for its acquisition (which will allow its demolition). The recipient of the money will be the father of the current inspector of tourism and under terms of the purchase agreement, a loan of nearly one million euros to the owner of the hotel will be cancelled. The person who extended the loan was Jaume Ensenyat, the father of the tourism inspector, who will now receive the government's money.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Can Morató demolition raised with UNESCO

The Alternativa per Pollença, already in contact with UNESCO's Spanish representative, has said that it will denounce to UNESCO a decision to remove protected status from the old Can Morató carpet factory in Pollensa which would lead to it being demolished.

UNESCO's involvement is on account of the factory falling within the Tramuntana region that has World Heritage Site status from UNESCO. If Can Morató were to be demolished, it is suggested, the boundary of this site could be affected.

The town hall insists that the factory, built in 1922 but abandoned since 1960, is in a state which cannot enable its renovation and restoration.

MALLORCA TODAY - Santa Margalida swimming-pool could be demolished

The ongoing problems with the public swimming-pool in Santa Margalida, caused by various defects and especially the loss of water, are making the town hall seriously consider its demolition. Only seven years old, the pool has been little short of a fiasco.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Ses Casetes still under Coasts Law threat

The Council of Mallorca has rejected a proposal by Muro town hall that the enclave of Ses Casetes des Capellans in Playa de Muro should be declared a site of cultural interest and so afford the cottages protection from demolition, as has been the declared intent of the Costas Authority because of the apparent illegality of the cottages (many of which were built almost a hundred years ago). The town hall does hold out hope, however, that a planned revision of the Coasts Law by the new government will give Ses Casetes a reprieve.

MALLORCA TODAY - Illegal homes in Pollensa face demolition

Three houses in Pollensa, two of them in Síller, face demolition as the Council of Mallorca has ruled them illegal, those in Síller being on "rustic" land and with swimming-pools, which is forbidden on rustic land.

The houses seem to be those primarily for holiday rent, and there are around a thousand such properties in Pollensa, not all of them "regularised" and accredited by the tourism ministry. Sanctions against illegal properties involve, at their most extreme, demolition and a fine of up to 125,000 euros.

Don’t Lead Me Halfway To Paradise

Yesterday’s headline title - “Rip it up and start again” - could equally apply today. Yet more on the regeneration of the coastal areas of Mallorca. The “Diario” reports on an architect’s proposal for the transformation of the frontline in Palmanova. The proposal envisages, among other things, the destruction of three hotels. The thinking behind it - to restore the paradise-like nature of the beach, sea and the mountains beyond; a paradise state that existed before the mass construction of thirty and forty years ago.

This is fantasy land, or is it? That there was unchecked development in the formative years of mass Mallorcan tourism is undeniable; that the coastlines were subject to the erection of blots on the landscape is also undeniable; that there is a move to righting these wrongs is also undeniable. But what of the practicalities?

Architects, once emboldened, could doubtless turn their eyes to other parts of the coastline - Alcúdia, for instance. Let us just presume that some bright architect has a vision for the reversion to a paradise state along the bay of Alcúdia. That vision includes the destruction of hotels. In Alcúdia alone, setting Playa de Muro to one side for the moment, there are four hotels or complexes that might be said to be threatened - Sunwing, Ciudad Blanca, Paraiso de Alcúdia, Condesa de la Bahía. All of these abut the beach; two others - Orquidea Playa and Eden Alcúdia - might be said to be “safe” as mainly only their gardens edge towards the sand.

Let us presume that these hotels were condemned. At a stroke some 12% of Alcúdia’s capacity would be destroyed; three out of these four account for getting on for 3000 places. Let us now also presume the same or another architect had a similar vision for Playa de Muro. Half the hotels would be wiped out. This would be economic insanity.

It won’t happen. The cost of expropriation would be prohibitive; the cost in overall economic terms incalculable; the cost in lost goodwill among hoteliers, tour operators and tourists irredeemable. Forget it.


QUIZ
Yesterday - Yes indeedy, Orange Juice (Edwyn Collins). Today’s title? Different singers to choose from.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

I’ve Still Got Sand In My Shoes

Don’t worry. They’re not going to stop you using the beaches. Quite the opposite in fact. Beach liberation and an end to de facto privatisation of the coastline! The people’s beaches!

The Environment Ministry has spoken. Its plan for the sustainability of the coastline has scrutinised hotels, dwellings, swimming-pools, beach-bars, nautical clubs; even the power station in Alcúdia and the military base in Puerto Pollensa have come under its low-energy-bulb spotlight.

To recap. The Government (central that is) could use the law to remove any property that has been built in what it considers to be an illegal fashion on public coastline. This affects much of the island. The additional background to this is the environmental damage that has been caused (and is being caused) by development that has gone hand-in-hand with Mallorca’s success as a tourist destination. And then there is climate change. A fifteen-centimetre rise in sea level by the middle of the century poses its own threat to beaches such as Alcúdia and Muro.

Demolition of hotels is perhaps the greatest headline-catcher. In the north one hotel is likely to get the swinging-ball and bulldozer - Don Pedro in Cala San Vicente. In the south there are, apparently, four beaches which are not accessible because of hotels. Solution: knock the hotels down.

The report recommends relocating the power station in Alcúdia (not the old one, the new one). It also recommends privatising the port of the military base in Puerto Pollensa (for reasons that escape me) and modification to or the re-siting of two nautical clubs in the south. And what was I saying the other day about people on beaches? Seemingly there are numerous examples of beaches where individual space is only five square metres when it should be between seven and twelve, a cause for ecological alarm in its own right because of the pressure this crowding creates. Presumably the liberation of the beaches will help to spread the load.

“El País”, from where some of the above comes, says that half-a-dozen hotels are targeted for demolition on three islands, not just on Mallorca (but when the paper starts to itemise these, along with the threatened hotels which block access, the number rises). Don Pedro though would be no surprise; this has been spoken about for ages. The hotel-demolition “headline” is a bit overplayed; the greatest threat to hotels is where they have say swimming-pools or terraces on public land.

What is not being talked about is wholesale demolition of residences (other than reference to “chalés irregulares”). Indeed the focus for private residences is more where these have created private areas in denying public access to the coastline, as in the case of the Costa de los Pinos on the east coast; the houses themselves are not the issue, pools and gardens are.

I had rather expected something more dramatic. Talk of “paradise and chaos” and “barbarism” is hyperbole. The proposals are, in certain instances, long-term, such as the relocation of the power station, and one wonders whether that would happen. Cases such as Don Pedro are not new. The beach-bars are soft options. Maybe it is just politicking after all.


QUIZ
Yesterday - Bruce Springsteen. Today’s title - which emoting songstress?

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)