Sixty Years Later: The Poblat Sold

"This small development has been there for 50 years. It is a dismal collection of whitewalled cottages with green shutters, an open space that once had a small school and now has roads suffering inattention. It looks abandoned, and the people who live in the cottages that are still occupied, are complaining about just that - abandonment by Gesa (Endesa). And there are suspicions as to what Endesa might have in mind for these tenants. If one goes along the road to the neighbouring butane factory, there is open space to the right with a large estate-agency sign saying for sale. Behind this land is the poblat."

I wrote this in 2008. It was about the Poblat Gesa in Alcanada, one of the more interesting developments in Alcudia and not only because of its curious heritage as a settlement for workers at the old power station opposite.

The Poblat dates back to the same time as the power station. The architect Josep Ferragut was responsible for it, as he was also largely responsible for marking out the project was to become the City of Lakes - Bellevue, the canals, the lakes and all that. It is a place that has long intrigued me, and it intrigued me more when I spoke with people about it. There were the odd bungalows that were well-kept, with neat little gardens. These belonged to the last legitimate tenants. Even in 2008, squatters had started to move in.

The rot apparently set in when Endesa acquired Gesa in the 1980s. Maintenance and upkeep fell off. It seemed obvious what the intention was. This became more obvious when Endesa started the process of trying to get rid of the tenants.

It's said that it went up for sale in October 2015. I'm not so sure. Or perhaps that for-sale sign in 2008 had referred to something else. Either way, it was the inevitable culmination. And now there is a buyer, a Madrid-based investor, who plans to rehabilitate the 29 dwellings, the old chapel and social centre. The school is no longer there. What will this rehabilitation be? The Poblat was on sale for 3.1 million euros in 2015. It does have some protected status, but even so ... .

Sixty years after Ferragut's small development came into existence, it will now change. Sad in a way, though given the state it has been allowed to fall into, it has to be for the best.

Meanwhile, there is the ongoing matter of what is opposite - the old power station. It looks like a ruin, and Endesa wants it to be declared a ruin. Endesa would ideally knock it down. The one-time workers at the plant were used to the sight of it. What about new occupants of the Poblat?

You Abandoned Me

In the water-borne wake of the floating bottles and cups of Alcúdia's canals comes another load of old rubbish, a substantially greater load of old rubbish than anything of the channels around The Mile. By the commercial port there has been and is an accumulation of old garbage that would have an alternative contemporary sculptor salivating at the potential for symbolic end-product. Want rubbish; here it is. Cars, plastic bottles, wood adorn the port' area. 15 metres in height and 60 in length; a voluminous square meterage of the discarded and unwanted.

Eyesore for even the blind, but it is not what it might sound. This is not some large-scale fly-tipping but the final resting place but one for material destined for recycling on the mainland. It comes from all over the island and waits to be shipped. It is the wait that causes the blight on the landscape, though we are assured it is all decontaminated and therefore blight-less. The reason for the wait is that everyone's gone on holiday, including, most importantly, the companies that do the recycling. Everything stops in August and consequently it just piles up until the chaps have got back and unpacked their vacation suitcases. So it's something that is tolerated for a short period, but for how much longer can it be repeated?

The commercial port abuts the site of the old power station, the one that at some point is meant to be the shiny new edifice of questionable arts and science tourism. As importantly, the commercial port is in the process of development and enlargement so that it can accommodate cruise ships. Welcome to Alcúdia, welcome to the island's recycling mountain. One doubts that they mention that in the brochure. Why can't they erect some form of warehouse to conceal it? Perhaps they will.

Then there are the neighbours. What neighbours, you might ask? In fact it is difficult to see the rubbish if you are a neighbour, but these neighbours are a story in their own right. Did you know that there is a small enclave of dwellings that was established for workers to serve the old power station? Head away from the roundabout by the commercial port and one can anticipate the villas and smart residences of Alcanada, but before one gets far there is, tucked away off the main road, the Poblat GESA.

This small urbanisation has been there for 50 years. It is a dismal collection of whitewalled cottages with green shutters, an open space that once had a small school and roads suffering inattention. It looks abandoned, and the people who live in the cottages that are still occupied, are complaining about just that - abandonment by GESA. And there are suspicions as to what GESA might have in mind for these tenants. If one goes along the road to the neighbouring butane factory, there is open space to the right with a large estate-agency sign saying for sale. Behind this land is the poblat.

Whatever the situation, the poblat is a curio of local housing and planning. It is not the only one. Nearby is the Poblat del Marquès de Suances. It too is a bizarre relic of what looks like little more than prefab housing. Like the Poblat GESA, it is not something one would normally see; there is no reason to go there. Yet these small urbanisations are a reminder of histories and stories that lie hidden from the normal tourist and real-estate brochurisation of the area.

* Acknowledgement to the "Diario" over the past two days for some of the information above.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?", Pete Seeger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhlOJm9nkwM). Today's title - first line from what?

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