The Balearics High Court has set a figure of 22.5 million euros as compensation to owners in Cala Carbó (Cala San Vicente) who were unable to develop land once a law of 2008 was introduced. 29 million had been demanded.
The High Court has thrown out a claim for compensation of 107 million euros by the company Ullal Parc Natural Apartaments S.L. which had been laid because the company believed that under land plans in Pollensa the development in Cala Carbó would switch to the area of Ullal in Puerto Pollensa.
See more: ARA Balears
Showing posts with label Ullal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ullal. Show all posts
Thursday, September 05, 2013
Saturday, July 06, 2013
Liberalising Wetlands: The Balearics new water plan
The Balearics Water Council (Consejo Balear de Agua) is a body within the regional government and is one that oversees the planning of water resources in the Balearics. This council consists of the environment minister and various others, such as representatives of agriculture, health, the ports and users of water in coastal and urban areas. It also includes a representative of ecology groups and defenders of the environment. One representative among 42 in total.
Not all of these 42 were at a meeting of the council the other day. 34 were, and of these 34, one of them voted against the ratification of the new regulations under what is known as the Plan Hidrológico de las Islas, which basically means the plan for water resources. I wonder who the one who voted against was.
This water resources plan, on the face of it, is pretty dry and dull stuff, but when you go behind it, it becomes anything other than dry and dull. Primarily, the plan has to do with ensuring water supplies and their quality, but water resources in Mallorca are not confined to what is swimming around off its coastline, to what lurks underneath the earth or to obviously protected areas of wetlands, such as Albufera. There are other areas of the island, the classification of which makes the water resources plan less than dry and dull.
The environmental GOB has attacked the ratification of the new plan. It has done so on various grounds. It disagrees with what will be authorisation for new wells in coastal areas where there is an issue with salinization, with access to water "without limits and controls", and with the modification of limits in areas of partly urban wetland.
The revised plan is, therefore, destined to be more permissive. As such therefore, it is in line with other policy moves adopted by the Partido Popular regional government which have favoured a more market approach than previous illiberal restriction. There is good and bad that can come from this greater freedom, and there will be those who believe that modifications to what can be done on partly urban wetland will only be bad. I am not one of them.
A major argument can be expected to return to Puerto Pollensa as a result of the new plan. It will be about the Ullal area of the resort. The modifications under the plan open the way for the development that has been envisaged for Ullal for some while, this development being a five-star hotel complex.
Puerto Pollensa badly needs more hotel stock. The relatively low amount of hotel places in the resort has been recognised as a potential weakness for years. It has also been a strength in that a tourist accommodation base which favours non-hotel stock has helped to maintain the traditional, less-developed feel of the resort.
But there is one very major way in which the regional government, and its PP masters in national government, is not liberal, and that is in its attitude towards and treatment of private accommodation for tourist rental. What has been a strength in the resort could very quickly become a weakness, and a crippling weakness at that, if the regional government was stupid enough to really get tough on private accommodation.
The government, which hasn't been doing Puerto Pollensa any favours in one way, is doing so in another; the development of Ullal should be welcomed. Doubtless there will be arguments, and one wouldn't rule out legal challenges, but if the plan now does clarify the status of Ullal, then perhaps the questionable notion that Ullal is wetland can be dispensed with. It is said that it is an historical, ancient wetland, which it may well, but in its present-day incarnation, it is very un-wet.
While the revised plan will raise hackles in Puerto Pollensa, it is unlikely to in Puerto Alcúdia. It is striking just how different attitudes are between the two resorts in respect of partly urban wetland. Political parties at Alcúdia town hall have pretty much been unanimous in rejecting the idea that developments in the resort between the horse and Magic roundabouts and along the Avenida Tucan contravene the plan as it was before the latest revision. They are also unlikely to disagree vehemently with any further developments which may arise because of the new plan, and one of these may be the revival of what has long been talked about, which is a further hotel complex, one that would now, like Puerto Pollensa, be of a five-star category.
Of course, none of this development might happen, but the new plan makes it possible. It may not be a plan that meets with universal support, there may indeed be rightful concerns about over-exploitation of water resources, but in one respect, it is a step in the right direction.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Not all of these 42 were at a meeting of the council the other day. 34 were, and of these 34, one of them voted against the ratification of the new regulations under what is known as the Plan Hidrológico de las Islas, which basically means the plan for water resources. I wonder who the one who voted against was.
This water resources plan, on the face of it, is pretty dry and dull stuff, but when you go behind it, it becomes anything other than dry and dull. Primarily, the plan has to do with ensuring water supplies and their quality, but water resources in Mallorca are not confined to what is swimming around off its coastline, to what lurks underneath the earth or to obviously protected areas of wetlands, such as Albufera. There are other areas of the island, the classification of which makes the water resources plan less than dry and dull.
The environmental GOB has attacked the ratification of the new plan. It has done so on various grounds. It disagrees with what will be authorisation for new wells in coastal areas where there is an issue with salinization, with access to water "without limits and controls", and with the modification of limits in areas of partly urban wetland.
The revised plan is, therefore, destined to be more permissive. As such therefore, it is in line with other policy moves adopted by the Partido Popular regional government which have favoured a more market approach than previous illiberal restriction. There is good and bad that can come from this greater freedom, and there will be those who believe that modifications to what can be done on partly urban wetland will only be bad. I am not one of them.
A major argument can be expected to return to Puerto Pollensa as a result of the new plan. It will be about the Ullal area of the resort. The modifications under the plan open the way for the development that has been envisaged for Ullal for some while, this development being a five-star hotel complex.
Puerto Pollensa badly needs more hotel stock. The relatively low amount of hotel places in the resort has been recognised as a potential weakness for years. It has also been a strength in that a tourist accommodation base which favours non-hotel stock has helped to maintain the traditional, less-developed feel of the resort.
But there is one very major way in which the regional government, and its PP masters in national government, is not liberal, and that is in its attitude towards and treatment of private accommodation for tourist rental. What has been a strength in the resort could very quickly become a weakness, and a crippling weakness at that, if the regional government was stupid enough to really get tough on private accommodation.
The government, which hasn't been doing Puerto Pollensa any favours in one way, is doing so in another; the development of Ullal should be welcomed. Doubtless there will be arguments, and one wouldn't rule out legal challenges, but if the plan now does clarify the status of Ullal, then perhaps the questionable notion that Ullal is wetland can be dispensed with. It is said that it is an historical, ancient wetland, which it may well, but in its present-day incarnation, it is very un-wet.
While the revised plan will raise hackles in Puerto Pollensa, it is unlikely to in Puerto Alcúdia. It is striking just how different attitudes are between the two resorts in respect of partly urban wetland. Political parties at Alcúdia town hall have pretty much been unanimous in rejecting the idea that developments in the resort between the horse and Magic roundabouts and along the Avenida Tucan contravene the plan as it was before the latest revision. They are also unlikely to disagree vehemently with any further developments which may arise because of the new plan, and one of these may be the revival of what has long been talked about, which is a further hotel complex, one that would now, like Puerto Pollensa, be of a five-star category.
Of course, none of this development might happen, but the new plan makes it possible. It may not be a plan that meets with universal support, there may indeed be rightful concerns about over-exploitation of water resources, but in one respect, it is a step in the right direction.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, March 07, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Ullal development would go ahead if wetland were preserved
Yet more on the latest speculation regarding the five-star hotel development in the Ullal area of Puerto Pollensa, mayor Cifre saying that he would welcome it so long as the wetland was preserved. The project would require, as it always has done, approval under different authorities and different land plans, one of them being the Mallorcan hydrological resources plan, that which relates to wetlands.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Puerto Pollensa Ullal development speculation intensifies
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Ullal owners seek compensation from government
A different and ongoing dispute in Puerto Pollensa, that of the development of the Ullal wetland area. This complicated issue is bound up in provisions for land development that would have swapped development in Cala Carbó for development in Ullal. This led to land in Cala Carbó being bought by owners in the Ullal area in order that they could then develop in Ullal, this now having been blocked. As a result, owners are seeking compensation from the regional government.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Friday, February 24, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Ullal proposals withdrawn by town hall
Pollensa town hall has backtracked on suggestions that the Ullal area of Puerto Pollensa could be opened up to wholesale development as a consequence of a revision of the "plan hidrólogico". However, this change in attitude is provisional and there appears to be a lack of unanimity among different political parties which would allow the establishment of a new ordinance which would guarantee that future changes to the wetland area of Ullal were in the common interest and not in the interests of just a few.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - New report may lead to redefinition of Ullal
To the ongoing argument as to the land classification of the Ullal wetland area of Puerto Pollensa has now been added a report from the regional government environment ministry which adds weight to the possibility that what is currently protected land would, under a revision of the "Plan Hidrológico" (water resources plan), be reclassified as an area for development. The matter is due for further debate by the town hall at its next meeting on 1 March.
Further to this, the Alternativa Party has circulated information relating to a company called Ullal Park S.L., a development business that was created originally in 2006, dissolved in 2007 and then reactivated in 2010. The Alternativa alleges that changes to land classification are at least in part in response to the interests of this company.
Further to this, the Alternativa Party has circulated information relating to a company called Ullal Park S.L., a development business that was created originally in 2006, dissolved in 2007 and then reactivated in 2010. The Alternativa alleges that changes to land classification are at least in part in response to the interests of this company.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Opposition combine against Ullal plan
The opposition parties on the left in Pollensa together with the UMP party in Puerto Pollensa have now officially combined in opposing the moves of the town hall administration to have the area of Ullal reclassified so that it can be urbanised. (See previous article: The Best Laid Plans, 16 January.)
Monday, January 16, 2012
The Best Laid Plans: Water and tourism
Plans for everything. Central government has plans, they are passed onto the regions which approve them or alter them, then central government changes and changes its mind, these changes are passed onto the regions which approve or alter the original alterations, but only after months of public consultation, at the end of which they probably don't do anything.
Among all the various plans for this or that, there is one for water resources. It is grandly known as the "Plan Hidrológico". In Mallorca and the Balearics, as with other regions, the plan refers not just to the provision of water but also to areas of water, i.e. the wetlands. As opposed, for instance, to wells and other underground water sources as well as overground reservoirs, it is when the visible wetland environment comes to the fore that plans become that much more complicated, because one plan is likely to conflict with another.
The water plan is out for revised public consultation, the new regional government having got central government to agree to a further consultation that is due to finish at the end of this month. But only recently has the plan been taken much notice of. And this is because the government is minded to change provisions of the plan that were approved almost a year ago and because only now have the impacts of these provisions come to be understood.
One impact would be on parts of Puerto Alcúdia. For those of you not familiar with Puerto Alcúdia's geography, much of the resort is built on reclaimed wetlands, i.e. Albufera. It is the remaining wetlands and the restoration of wetlands which fall under the plan's provisions. The restoration would affect the public swimming-pool and sports centre, the Club Mac hotel complex and the Lidl supermarket; to the extent that some demolition would need to occur.
This is most unlikely to happen. And nor indeed should it, as it would be complete and utter folly. It is unlikely to happen because the new government is less minded to be as environmentally zealous as the former environment minister Gabriel Vicens was. Vicens, in approving the plan last February, spoke of investments running to nearly three thousand million euros up to 2027 that would have turned Mallorca into one vast lake. I exaggerate of course, but the plan's provisions placed conservation over and above other considerations.
This is not to play down the importance of the water plan. It is hugely important, but where the visible water environment and therefore the island's ecology are concerned, it runs up against plans regarding land classification and usage, such as something known as POOT. This is the plan which classifies land that can be used for tourism purposes. And it is in Pollensa where the conflict between the water plan and POOT is being highlighted.
As a further geography lesson for those who don't know, the wetlands of Albufera, i.e. along the bay of Alcúdia, used to once upon a time connect with those along the bay of Pollensa, which are now Albufereta and La Gola and also the area of Ullal in Puerto Pollensa.
This area was earmarked by the previous town hall administration in Pollensa for development. Until, that is, the idea came up against how it was classified. The current town hall wants it to be de-classified under the water plan and then re-classified as POOT land. (I do hope you're following all this.) The government, it would seem, is likely to agree with the town hall, and this has provoked all manner of opposition.
Yet the opposition does not come from the resort's businesses. In the summer of 2010, when businesses led a protest against Pollensa town hall's management of Puerto Pollensa, one of the demands was for more tourism accommodation, and Ullal would be the most likely place for such accommodation to be built.
Opposition comes, not unexpectedly, from opposition parties. In addition to wishing Ullal to remain as a wetland, they claim that the town hall's architect doesn't know what he's talking about in presenting reasons for Ullal's wetland status to be removed and shouldn't even be having his say anyway, as it should be down to an environmental expert.
One can sympathise with both sides in Pollensa, as one can sympathise with the environmental and ecological arguments that would require wetland restoration in Alcúdia, but the proliferation of plans with differing aims, to say nothing of the proliferation of agencies of government and the changes to plans when these agencies themselves change, means that nothing ends up happening. Or if it does, it takes years for any decision to be agreed. The best laid plans ...
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Among all the various plans for this or that, there is one for water resources. It is grandly known as the "Plan Hidrológico". In Mallorca and the Balearics, as with other regions, the plan refers not just to the provision of water but also to areas of water, i.e. the wetlands. As opposed, for instance, to wells and other underground water sources as well as overground reservoirs, it is when the visible wetland environment comes to the fore that plans become that much more complicated, because one plan is likely to conflict with another.
The water plan is out for revised public consultation, the new regional government having got central government to agree to a further consultation that is due to finish at the end of this month. But only recently has the plan been taken much notice of. And this is because the government is minded to change provisions of the plan that were approved almost a year ago and because only now have the impacts of these provisions come to be understood.
One impact would be on parts of Puerto Alcúdia. For those of you not familiar with Puerto Alcúdia's geography, much of the resort is built on reclaimed wetlands, i.e. Albufera. It is the remaining wetlands and the restoration of wetlands which fall under the plan's provisions. The restoration would affect the public swimming-pool and sports centre, the Club Mac hotel complex and the Lidl supermarket; to the extent that some demolition would need to occur.
This is most unlikely to happen. And nor indeed should it, as it would be complete and utter folly. It is unlikely to happen because the new government is less minded to be as environmentally zealous as the former environment minister Gabriel Vicens was. Vicens, in approving the plan last February, spoke of investments running to nearly three thousand million euros up to 2027 that would have turned Mallorca into one vast lake. I exaggerate of course, but the plan's provisions placed conservation over and above other considerations.
This is not to play down the importance of the water plan. It is hugely important, but where the visible water environment and therefore the island's ecology are concerned, it runs up against plans regarding land classification and usage, such as something known as POOT. This is the plan which classifies land that can be used for tourism purposes. And it is in Pollensa where the conflict between the water plan and POOT is being highlighted.
As a further geography lesson for those who don't know, the wetlands of Albufera, i.e. along the bay of Alcúdia, used to once upon a time connect with those along the bay of Pollensa, which are now Albufereta and La Gola and also the area of Ullal in Puerto Pollensa.
This area was earmarked by the previous town hall administration in Pollensa for development. Until, that is, the idea came up against how it was classified. The current town hall wants it to be de-classified under the water plan and then re-classified as POOT land. (I do hope you're following all this.) The government, it would seem, is likely to agree with the town hall, and this has provoked all manner of opposition.
Yet the opposition does not come from the resort's businesses. In the summer of 2010, when businesses led a protest against Pollensa town hall's management of Puerto Pollensa, one of the demands was for more tourism accommodation, and Ullal would be the most likely place for such accommodation to be built.
Opposition comes, not unexpectedly, from opposition parties. In addition to wishing Ullal to remain as a wetland, they claim that the town hall's architect doesn't know what he's talking about in presenting reasons for Ullal's wetland status to be removed and shouldn't even be having his say anyway, as it should be down to an environmental expert.
One can sympathise with both sides in Pollensa, as one can sympathise with the environmental and ecological arguments that would require wetland restoration in Alcúdia, but the proliferation of plans with differing aims, to say nothing of the proliferation of agencies of government and the changes to plans when these agencies themselves change, means that nothing ends up happening. Or if it does, it takes years for any decision to be agreed. The best laid plans ...
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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