Ok, sort of as you were when I posted the original article re the main points of the new tourism law.
Voting was 32 in favour, 19 against with four abstaining.
Here are some of the main points.
1. Hotels can be converted to other use, such as to condohotels or residential apartments, but on the condition that fundamental redevelopment of buildings is undergone. A 5% tax will be raised on the value of the redevelopment work which will be payable to town halls for use in modernisation of tourist areas.
2. Condohotels will have to be of a minimum 3-star or 3-key superior rating.
3. The law will permit whatever increase to the built area of current 4-star and 5-star hotels is possible, so as to allow for modernisation.
4. Final say on conversion of hotels will lie with town halls and their reports will be binding.
5. Hostels, pensions, camping sites, hotels of 1-star and 2-star and apartments of 1-key or 2-key will be given four years to modernise or will be closed if only temporarily pending modernisation.
6. Hotels which offer all-inclusive have to have a plan to meet specific quality standards. The taking out of food and drink from hotels by guests will be banned.
7. A general principle of the law is to promote conversion be it in urban or rural tourism areas. The law appears not to promote the occupation of more land as such.
8. New accommodation in rural areas, through conversion of existing buildings, will be permitted. This measure is part of a move to increase the level of agrotourism.
9. Fines for illegal accommodation will increase by 30%.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Tourism law passed; Catalan law an insult
The Balearics parliament has approved the new tourism law today, while the debate regarding the modified public service law has been enlivened by the PSM Mallorcan socialists suggesting that it represents an expression of "que se jodan" towards Catalan speakers. This is a reference to the swearing by Partido Popular deputy Andrea Fabra in the national congress when she used the expression during the announcement of cuts by Prime Minister Rajoy. Fabra has now been censured by her party for inappropriate language. She said that she directed the expression towards the opposition, but some have claimed that it was directed at the unemployed. The expression means "fuck you" or "fuck that".
MALLORCA TODAY - Almond trees threatened with wood fungus
A few days ago there was a report of farmers in Santa Margalida sending a letter to the regional agriculture ministry expressing concern as to disease affecting almond trees in the town. Now the ministry says that it has detected different strains of fungus that attack the trees and which can kill them off. There will be experiments conducted to test tree resistance.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Tourist sector to apply pressure over VAT rise
Though discussions have begun between hotels and tour operators as to the implementation of the 2% rise (to 10%) of the reduced rate of IVA (VAT) in the tourist sector, the hotels and other businesses in the sector are not accepting the rise without a fight. They are to meet Balearics president Bauzá and may also seek a meeting with Prime Minister Rajoy.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 July 2012
Really quite cool overnight, the morning's temperatures ranging widely - from 16.5C to 23.4C - at 08.00. Sun all day on the cards and a high of 30 apparently, but if it's anything like recently, it will be more like 25.
Afternoon update: Smashing day, forecast was much more like it. Good little breeze, inland high of 29.8C, two degrees lower on the coast. Just right and just perfect.
Afternoon update: Smashing day, forecast was much more like it. Good little breeze, inland high of 29.8C, two degrees lower on the coast. Just right and just perfect.
The Experiment That Went Wrong?
Catalonia has 699 kilometres of coast and each kilometre supports 18,268 tourists. The Balearics have 1,428 kilometres of coast and each kilometre supports 6,329 tourists. Great. On this basis the Balearics could accommodate three times as many tourists and still have loads of coast left over to take on many more. This is one way of looking at the statistics and is almost certainly not the right way of looking at them. Another way of looking at them is that Catalonia is tourism-sardine land and that the Balearics are mercifully not.
Ivan Murray, professor of geography at the Universitat de les Illes Balears and someone to whom I have referred several times previously, once described the mass of tourists who descend on the Balearics as "an aberration without parallel in the whole world". It might appear that he should have been talking about greater aberrations in Catalonia (and Valencia and Andalucía come to that) but there are distinct differences between the Balearics and Catalonia. The islands do not have anything like the land mass of Catalonia, they do not have equivalent centres of population to Catalonia and as islands they have a more fragile ecology than a region of the mainland. A more meaningful comparison might be that between the Balearics and the Canaries, which support 5,182 tourists for each of their 1,583 kilometres of coast.
The national environment ministry has released findings of a study of tourism numbers relative to Spanish regions with coastlines. The Balearics rank fourth in terms of this human pressure after Catalonia, Valencia and Andalucía, each with less coast than the Balearics. Tempting it might be to conclude that scope exists for the expansion of coastal tourism in the Balearics, but such a conclusion would also overlook differences in what generate tourism numbers in the different regions. There may be more theoretical human pressure on the coasts but the tourism numbers elsewhere are engaged in more diverse activities. Andalucía, for example, has its grand cities. It also has ski tourism in the Sierra Nevada. Balearics tourism, while not exclusively coastal tourism, does not have this diversity. The islands' tourism is overwhelmingly coastal and it is tourism that has threatened the islands' coasts with being overwhelmed.
Professor Murray makes the point that this tourism brings with it not only people but also infrastructure which has to support them. And a great deal of it is also coastal; marinas for example. The infrastructure does of course sprawl across whole islands, and Murray makes the further point that this is an infrastructure which has been designed partly if not mainly with tourism in mind.
I have previously spoken about the absurdity of the amount of real estate on Mallorca which lies unused and unproductive for several months of the year. Other investment, that in infrastructure, isn't unused but it has been designed and is being designed for a capacity of people who just aren't around for most of the year. The cost of the investment and of its maintenance contributes to a high cost of living but without the benefits of a genuine return for more than five or six months of the year (fewer, some might say).
The consequence of this is the total disequilibrium which exists in Mallorca's economy. When we consider the mess that the island and the country are in (and though the same disequilibrium exists elsewhere it is not as pronounced as it is in the Balearics), one can argue that tourism is both a solution and a problem. Indeed, to what extent has the financing of infrastructure and construction which guarantees a good return for only a limited period of the year contributed to the financial difficulties?
This infrastructure and construction has been primarily with one aim in mind - coastal development. And coastal development means tourism. The Balearics may have more coast than the likes of Catalonia but how much more coastal development can it take? The reform of the Coasts Law combined with the Balearics new tourism law suggests that there may well be more development. Environmentally it almost certainly makes no sense but economically it is also questionable. More development would not address the disequilibrium. By its very nature, coastal development serves one key purpose - to satisfy tourism for only part of the year.
Murray has described development in the Balearics as a testing ground, an experiment, one used to transfer the experience of tourism to other lands and to make what he calls "non-places". We certainly can't live without tourism in Mallorca and the Balearics, and it cannot be denied that tourism has brought enormous benefits. But have we, without really knowing it, experienced a tipping-point, one at which the experiment actually went wrong?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Ivan Murray, professor of geography at the Universitat de les Illes Balears and someone to whom I have referred several times previously, once described the mass of tourists who descend on the Balearics as "an aberration without parallel in the whole world". It might appear that he should have been talking about greater aberrations in Catalonia (and Valencia and Andalucía come to that) but there are distinct differences between the Balearics and Catalonia. The islands do not have anything like the land mass of Catalonia, they do not have equivalent centres of population to Catalonia and as islands they have a more fragile ecology than a region of the mainland. A more meaningful comparison might be that between the Balearics and the Canaries, which support 5,182 tourists for each of their 1,583 kilometres of coast.
The national environment ministry has released findings of a study of tourism numbers relative to Spanish regions with coastlines. The Balearics rank fourth in terms of this human pressure after Catalonia, Valencia and Andalucía, each with less coast than the Balearics. Tempting it might be to conclude that scope exists for the expansion of coastal tourism in the Balearics, but such a conclusion would also overlook differences in what generate tourism numbers in the different regions. There may be more theoretical human pressure on the coasts but the tourism numbers elsewhere are engaged in more diverse activities. Andalucía, for example, has its grand cities. It also has ski tourism in the Sierra Nevada. Balearics tourism, while not exclusively coastal tourism, does not have this diversity. The islands' tourism is overwhelmingly coastal and it is tourism that has threatened the islands' coasts with being overwhelmed.
Professor Murray makes the point that this tourism brings with it not only people but also infrastructure which has to support them. And a great deal of it is also coastal; marinas for example. The infrastructure does of course sprawl across whole islands, and Murray makes the further point that this is an infrastructure which has been designed partly if not mainly with tourism in mind.
I have previously spoken about the absurdity of the amount of real estate on Mallorca which lies unused and unproductive for several months of the year. Other investment, that in infrastructure, isn't unused but it has been designed and is being designed for a capacity of people who just aren't around for most of the year. The cost of the investment and of its maintenance contributes to a high cost of living but without the benefits of a genuine return for more than five or six months of the year (fewer, some might say).
The consequence of this is the total disequilibrium which exists in Mallorca's economy. When we consider the mess that the island and the country are in (and though the same disequilibrium exists elsewhere it is not as pronounced as it is in the Balearics), one can argue that tourism is both a solution and a problem. Indeed, to what extent has the financing of infrastructure and construction which guarantees a good return for only a limited period of the year contributed to the financial difficulties?
This infrastructure and construction has been primarily with one aim in mind - coastal development. And coastal development means tourism. The Balearics may have more coast than the likes of Catalonia but how much more coastal development can it take? The reform of the Coasts Law combined with the Balearics new tourism law suggests that there may well be more development. Environmentally it almost certainly makes no sense but economically it is also questionable. More development would not address the disequilibrium. By its very nature, coastal development serves one key purpose - to satisfy tourism for only part of the year.
Murray has described development in the Balearics as a testing ground, an experiment, one used to transfer the experience of tourism to other lands and to make what he calls "non-places". We certainly can't live without tourism in Mallorca and the Balearics, and it cannot be denied that tourism has brought enormous benefits. But have we, without really knowing it, experienced a tipping-point, one at which the experiment actually went wrong?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, July 16, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Son Caliu fire requires evacuation
A fire in forest area by Ses Vinyes by Son Caliu in Calvià has required the evacuation of eighteen homes.
Update (20:00): The fire is reported as having been stabilised and being under control.
The fire was brought under control swiftly and those who had been evacuated were allowed to return to their homes when the fire risk was lowered from a level one risk to level zero. Helicopter water bombers, Canadair and fire tenders all contributed to the operation.
Update (17 July, 14:00): The fire is likely to be fully controlled this afternoon. Some 60 hectares of forest have been affected in what is by far the most serious incident on Mallorca this summer.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Update (20:00): The fire is reported as having been stabilised and being under control.
The fire was brought under control swiftly and those who had been evacuated were allowed to return to their homes when the fire risk was lowered from a level one risk to level zero. Helicopter water bombers, Canadair and fire tenders all contributed to the operation.
Update (17 July, 14:00): The fire is likely to be fully controlled this afternoon. Some 60 hectares of forest have been affected in what is by far the most serious incident on Mallorca this summer.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Munar is sentenced to five and a half years
Maria Antònia Munar, former president of the Council of Mallorca and leader of the disgraced Unió Mallorquina party, has been condemned to five and a half years in prison for abuse of public office, embezzlement of public funds, fraud and falsification of documents. The charges related to irregular grant payments made to a media production company, Video U. Miguel Nadal, the former vice-president of the Council and ex-tourism minister, has received a sentence of two years and seven months on the same charges; the lighter sentence is because he confessed. There will be appeals to the Balearics Supreme Court.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Rodríguez resigns because of corruption allegation
The national government delegate in the Balearic Islands, José María Rodríguez, has resigned as a result of an investigation into his alleged involvement in a corruption case dating back to when he was interior minister in the Jaume Matas government in the Balearics. Calls had been made for Rodríguez to resign but he had until today rejected them.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Hirst trial jury shown video of Mallorca wedding party
The jury at Bradford Crown Court has been shown parts of a video shot at the wedding party in Mallorca for John Hirst and his wife Linda in 2006. Described by the wedding planner as the most expensive she had been involved with, the video was submitted as part of the trial into the fraud allegations levelled against Hirst, his wife and others, stemming from the operation of a Ponzi scheme centred on Calvia.
See more: Huddersfield Daily Examiner
See more: Huddersfield Daily Examiner
MALLORCA TODAY - Barriers along the Cami Pollensa-Lluc still in place
Despite an order having been passed by the Council of Mallorca, which claims ownership of the old road between Pollensa and Lluc, that owners along the "cami" should remove barriers and permit ease of access to ramblers, the barriers remain in place. The case of the Pollensa-Lluc walk is highlighted as an example of the legal battles over rights of way in Mallorca and also of the difficulties in establishing what actually is the original track.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 July 2012
Another fine, sunny morning with an area high of 22.4C at 07.30, due to rise to the upper 20s later, but with winds predominantly northerly may not, as was the case yesterday. Still set to get warmer from tomorrow, but the wind pattern will influence anticipated temperatures into the low 30s.
Afternoon update: The temperatures are still not meeting the levels that forecasts would have that they should. A high of 24.3C, very pleasant with a refreshing breeze.
Afternoon update: The temperatures are still not meeting the levels that forecasts would have that they should. A high of 24.3C, very pleasant with a refreshing breeze.
The Secrets of Mallorca's Streets
The streets of any of Mallorca's towns are at their best during the quiet of a summer's afternoon. It may be broiling hot but siesta, away from the bustle of main squares and their cafés and restaurants still alive with the clinking of plates and the chatter of locals and tourists, silences the streets of tall, old townhouses with their solid wooden doors and green shutters and the bougainvillaea that hang over walls.
Away from the bustle, at fiesta time all that can be heard is the rustle of the white bunting. Caught in the breeze, the bunting creates an afternoon lullaby that soothes you from the heat if only by the suggestion of a cooling breeze.
The house-lined streets of the towns are more than just places of residence. They are historical artefacts. They contain all manner of mystery and they reveal all manner of historical detail. They are repositories of the past and in the names of some of these streets, the past comes into the present day.
The streets are named for all sorts of reasons: the winds of the Mediterranean, the saints, the planets, the flowers, the birds. They are also named after people, yet most of these people are as mysterious to visitors as the streets themselves are mysterious in concealing their own mysteries.
Who are some of these people? In any town a street sign will offer the name of someone obscure, a total unknown, but they are of course not unknown.
It isn't only the streets it is also the squares and the various "paseos" that are sometimes not really walks or streets at all. These paseos just melt into the heat of other streets, roads or squares. No one knows where they go, where they start or finish, they are just there because a name has been given to something which doesn't seem to obviously exist. But the name, always assuming you can see a name on a sign, and this isn't always the case, tells its own story.
In Alcúdia town what approximates to the car parking area by the church and walls has a name. It is the Paseo Pedro Ventayol. In Castellano anyway. It is always referred to in Catalan, the Passeig Pere Ventayol. You can't see a sign which announces this name (or at least I don't think so, as I've never been aware of one), but this is the name nevertheless. But who was Pere Ventayol?
In one of the streets with fiesta time bunting, Església, is a small, boutique-style hotel. It is called Can Tem. Ventayol was born in Can Tem a long time before it became a hotel. In 1873 to be precise. He became the town's apothecary, Alcúdia's chemist. But as importantly if not more, Ventayol wrote one of the most important histories of Alcúdia, simply called "Historia de Alcúdia". Much of what informs, for example, today's background knowledge of the Roman town of Pollentia was contained in its first volume. Ventayol is an historical figure twice over. Someone from history who was a history man.
If you walk from Pere Ventayol's paseo, go behind the walls along Moll (port), turn into Cristofol Colom (Columbus) and then hang a right, you will find yourself in Antoni Qués. Or to give him his full name, Antoni Maria Qués Ventayol. Another one! So who was Qués?
He was one of the original shareholders in the shipping line Trasmediterránea, which still exists, but despite this business background, he was one of the founders (in 1934) of the Balearics Republican Left, one of the first political organisations to lay claim to Balearics nationalism. He was subsequently detained by Franco's forces and in 1937 on 24 February, he was shot along with the mayor of Palma.
By coincidence, 24 February is also often a street name, one that can relate to the quelling of the 1981 coup or, in Alcúdia terms, the date attributed to the miracle of Sant Crist. Or maybe to the execution of one of its own.
The streets don't always take their names from sons or daughters of their towns. Alcúdia has an Anglada Camarasa and a Tito Cittadini, but these two artists are more usually associated with Pollensa, as is the poet (Miquel) Costa i Llobera, while Pere Quart, and his street is out of the town and in Barcarès, was a poet from the town of Sabadell in Barcelona province.
But from wherever they came, the streets to which they have lent their names afford a rich history of towns such as Alcúdia. Always assuming, that is, they've bothered to put a street sign up.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Away from the bustle, at fiesta time all that can be heard is the rustle of the white bunting. Caught in the breeze, the bunting creates an afternoon lullaby that soothes you from the heat if only by the suggestion of a cooling breeze.
The house-lined streets of the towns are more than just places of residence. They are historical artefacts. They contain all manner of mystery and they reveal all manner of historical detail. They are repositories of the past and in the names of some of these streets, the past comes into the present day.
The streets are named for all sorts of reasons: the winds of the Mediterranean, the saints, the planets, the flowers, the birds. They are also named after people, yet most of these people are as mysterious to visitors as the streets themselves are mysterious in concealing their own mysteries.
Who are some of these people? In any town a street sign will offer the name of someone obscure, a total unknown, but they are of course not unknown.
It isn't only the streets it is also the squares and the various "paseos" that are sometimes not really walks or streets at all. These paseos just melt into the heat of other streets, roads or squares. No one knows where they go, where they start or finish, they are just there because a name has been given to something which doesn't seem to obviously exist. But the name, always assuming you can see a name on a sign, and this isn't always the case, tells its own story.
In Alcúdia town what approximates to the car parking area by the church and walls has a name. It is the Paseo Pedro Ventayol. In Castellano anyway. It is always referred to in Catalan, the Passeig Pere Ventayol. You can't see a sign which announces this name (or at least I don't think so, as I've never been aware of one), but this is the name nevertheless. But who was Pere Ventayol?
In one of the streets with fiesta time bunting, Església, is a small, boutique-style hotel. It is called Can Tem. Ventayol was born in Can Tem a long time before it became a hotel. In 1873 to be precise. He became the town's apothecary, Alcúdia's chemist. But as importantly if not more, Ventayol wrote one of the most important histories of Alcúdia, simply called "Historia de Alcúdia". Much of what informs, for example, today's background knowledge of the Roman town of Pollentia was contained in its first volume. Ventayol is an historical figure twice over. Someone from history who was a history man.
If you walk from Pere Ventayol's paseo, go behind the walls along Moll (port), turn into Cristofol Colom (Columbus) and then hang a right, you will find yourself in Antoni Qués. Or to give him his full name, Antoni Maria Qués Ventayol. Another one! So who was Qués?
He was one of the original shareholders in the shipping line Trasmediterránea, which still exists, but despite this business background, he was one of the founders (in 1934) of the Balearics Republican Left, one of the first political organisations to lay claim to Balearics nationalism. He was subsequently detained by Franco's forces and in 1937 on 24 February, he was shot along with the mayor of Palma.
By coincidence, 24 February is also often a street name, one that can relate to the quelling of the 1981 coup or, in Alcúdia terms, the date attributed to the miracle of Sant Crist. Or maybe to the execution of one of its own.
The streets don't always take their names from sons or daughters of their towns. Alcúdia has an Anglada Camarasa and a Tito Cittadini, but these two artists are more usually associated with Pollensa, as is the poet (Miquel) Costa i Llobera, while Pere Quart, and his street is out of the town and in Barcarès, was a poet from the town of Sabadell in Barcelona province.
But from wherever they came, the streets to which they have lent their names afford a rich history of towns such as Alcúdia. Always assuming, that is, they've bothered to put a street sign up.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics tourism and public sector laws to be approved Tuesday
A significant day beckons this week in the Balearic parliament. Two bills, both contentious in different ways, are set to be approved on Tuesday. One is the new tourism law, the other the modified law for the public sector, key to which is the dropping of Catalan as a requisite for working on behalf of the regional government and therefore in various jobs, such as those in the health service.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Felanitx fire under control
It hasn't so far been as bad a summer for fires as last year but the island has experienced quite a serious one (and the worst of the summer) on the Puig de Sant Salvador in Felanitx in the south-east. Twenty-four hectares of woodland have been affected. The fire is now under control, having started yesterday some time after midday.
MALLORCA TODAY - Coastal cleaning operations under corruption investigation
Police have opened a new line of investigation in the ongoing cases of corruption that emanated from the Balearics tourism ministry during the time that the former Unió Mallorquina party was in charge of the ministry. Following the three-year sentence handed down to ex-tourism minister Francesc Buils, police are examining the arrangements for coastal cleaning operations that were transferred from the environment ministry to the tourism ministry. Police suspect that a national company engaged in the work paid irregular commissions to the party.
(Comment: When the current tourism ministry said that it had no money to continue these cleaning operations, there was considerable surprise expressed as to why it was that the tourism ministry was even involved in such operations.)
See more: Diario de Mallorca
(Comment: When the current tourism ministry said that it had no money to continue these cleaning operations, there was considerable surprise expressed as to why it was that the tourism ministry was even involved in such operations.)
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Palm beetle affects 35 towns in Mallorca
The spread of the destructive palm beetle - the "picudo rojo" - is such that only 18 of Mallorca's 53 municipalities do not have palm trees affected by the beetle. The four most affected towns are Alcúdia and Pollensa in the north and Palma and Llucmajor in the south.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 July 2012
A brighter, sunnier and breezier morning with local highs moving towards 23 degrees by 07.30. Should remain a fine day with the outlook into next week for clear skies and getting hotter from Tuesday.
Afternoon update: Well, the forecasts aren't as accurate as one might hope. Some cloud came in this morning, went away again but some more of the pesky stuff turned up later in the afternoon. Nothing dramatic on the temperature front, only 24.3C the area high.
Afternoon update: Well, the forecasts aren't as accurate as one might hope. Some cloud came in this morning, went away again but some more of the pesky stuff turned up later in the afternoon. Nothing dramatic on the temperature front, only 24.3C the area high.
Improper: Rationalising town halls
National government finally seems to have woken up to a fact that has been staring it in the face for an age. In fact, it hasn't just woken up to the fact. It's known about it for an age as well. Just that it hasn't chosen to do anything about it. The fact is duplication. At local government levels. And especially in Mallorca where there is the intervening level of government between the town halls and the regional government, i.e. the Council of Mallorca.
Madrid has woken up to the fact and has decided to take some action, but what action is it to take and is it the right one? It has decided that towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants - and there are only a handful of towns in Mallorca other than the capital Palma that have more - are going to lose some of their responsibilities and that these will be transferred to the island council.
Given the number of small municipalities in Mallorca (and everywhere else in Spain), delivery of public services is highly cost inefficient. It is more expensive, in terms of relative cost per head of population, to provide services in smaller municipalities than it is in larger ones, and when one talks of larger municipalities in Mallorca, there are, apart from Palma, only five (Calvià, Inca, Manacor, Llucmajor and Marratxí) with populations greater than 20,000.
The reference to 20,000 inhabitants is significant for two reasons. Under the Spanish law that determines the operations of local government (Ley de Bases de Régimen Local) this is a point at which local authorities assume greater responsibilities and are also entitled to elect more councillors (a further point is 50,000 inhabitants). Madrid not only intends to take away responsibilities from smaller municipalities, it also intends to reduce the number of councillors - by almost a third.
There are, under this law, services that all municipalities are obliged to provide. They include, for example, street lighting and cleaning, refuse collection and drinking water. Even these basic services are being eyed up for rationalisation by the government and for transfer to a greater authority, namely the Council of Mallorca.
The law regulating local government operations is to undergo a major reform. It needs to be reformed because it does in itself give rise to duplication of effort and to the provision of services by some town halls that isn't really within their competence to provide. There is a distinction between those services which a town hall currently must provide, such as refuse collection, and a town hall's competences. These do, for instance, include participation in education but not in the actual delivery of education, except in so-called complementary activities related to education. Yet, it has not been unknown for town halls to, for example, assume delivery of nursery education services.
Some of these competences are referred to as "impropias", by which it is meant that town halls exceed their competence and spend money on them in an improper way. It is estimated that a quarter of town halls spend in general goes on such improper competences. When one considers the saving that could be derived from elimination of this improper spend in addition to that which would come from rationalisation of basic services under a single authority, then you can understand why the government is so keen to effect this local government reform.
Critics of this move argue that the government is turning the clock back to the centralised system of government that existed in Franco's times, but this is an extreme assessment. Decentralisation would remain, just that it would be more coherent and unified within the island's council, and the Council of Mallorca, the point of which I have questioned repeatedly, would end up with some real point to it. It would become what you would expect a council to be: the body that arranges, maintains and manages services.
What would happen to the town halls though? Stripped of much of their purpose, might it signal the end for them? There have been calls for Mallorca's town halls to be done away with - the head of the hoteliers' federation suggested this not so long ago - but they would still clearly have a role, even with fewer councillors.
Mention of the hoteliers' federation is relevant. The Balearic Government, and not the national government, has buckled to pressure from the town halls to ensure that they still have the final say over planning when the new tourism law is enacted, something that may bring them into conflict with the hoteliers. But might the national government go over the head of the regional government and take this competence away as well? One fancies that there is going to be considerable unease and disgruntlement at many a town hall in Mallorca in any event, but if responsibility for planning was to be challenged, then the town halls would be up in arms.
The reform makes much sense, but it is worth asking how it is that the town halls came to be exceeding their authority in ways that they appear to have been. One can only assume that there has been insufficient control which has allowed the town halls to grow like topsy, a point made when in early 2010, a report showed that personnel costs alone at Mallorca's town halls had doubled since the turn of the century.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Madrid has woken up to the fact and has decided to take some action, but what action is it to take and is it the right one? It has decided that towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants - and there are only a handful of towns in Mallorca other than the capital Palma that have more - are going to lose some of their responsibilities and that these will be transferred to the island council.
Given the number of small municipalities in Mallorca (and everywhere else in Spain), delivery of public services is highly cost inefficient. It is more expensive, in terms of relative cost per head of population, to provide services in smaller municipalities than it is in larger ones, and when one talks of larger municipalities in Mallorca, there are, apart from Palma, only five (Calvià, Inca, Manacor, Llucmajor and Marratxí) with populations greater than 20,000.
The reference to 20,000 inhabitants is significant for two reasons. Under the Spanish law that determines the operations of local government (Ley de Bases de Régimen Local) this is a point at which local authorities assume greater responsibilities and are also entitled to elect more councillors (a further point is 50,000 inhabitants). Madrid not only intends to take away responsibilities from smaller municipalities, it also intends to reduce the number of councillors - by almost a third.
There are, under this law, services that all municipalities are obliged to provide. They include, for example, street lighting and cleaning, refuse collection and drinking water. Even these basic services are being eyed up for rationalisation by the government and for transfer to a greater authority, namely the Council of Mallorca.
The law regulating local government operations is to undergo a major reform. It needs to be reformed because it does in itself give rise to duplication of effort and to the provision of services by some town halls that isn't really within their competence to provide. There is a distinction between those services which a town hall currently must provide, such as refuse collection, and a town hall's competences. These do, for instance, include participation in education but not in the actual delivery of education, except in so-called complementary activities related to education. Yet, it has not been unknown for town halls to, for example, assume delivery of nursery education services.
Some of these competences are referred to as "impropias", by which it is meant that town halls exceed their competence and spend money on them in an improper way. It is estimated that a quarter of town halls spend in general goes on such improper competences. When one considers the saving that could be derived from elimination of this improper spend in addition to that which would come from rationalisation of basic services under a single authority, then you can understand why the government is so keen to effect this local government reform.
Critics of this move argue that the government is turning the clock back to the centralised system of government that existed in Franco's times, but this is an extreme assessment. Decentralisation would remain, just that it would be more coherent and unified within the island's council, and the Council of Mallorca, the point of which I have questioned repeatedly, would end up with some real point to it. It would become what you would expect a council to be: the body that arranges, maintains and manages services.
What would happen to the town halls though? Stripped of much of their purpose, might it signal the end for them? There have been calls for Mallorca's town halls to be done away with - the head of the hoteliers' federation suggested this not so long ago - but they would still clearly have a role, even with fewer councillors.
Mention of the hoteliers' federation is relevant. The Balearic Government, and not the national government, has buckled to pressure from the town halls to ensure that they still have the final say over planning when the new tourism law is enacted, something that may bring them into conflict with the hoteliers. But might the national government go over the head of the regional government and take this competence away as well? One fancies that there is going to be considerable unease and disgruntlement at many a town hall in Mallorca in any event, but if responsibility for planning was to be challenged, then the town halls would be up in arms.
The reform makes much sense, but it is worth asking how it is that the town halls came to be exceeding their authority in ways that they appear to have been. One can only assume that there has been insufficient control which has allowed the town halls to grow like topsy, a point made when in early 2010, a report showed that personnel costs alone at Mallorca's town halls had doubled since the turn of the century.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Rationalisation of Mallorca's town halls
A further measure to be adopted by the national government relates to the function of public administration in Mallorca. This will lead to some rationalisation, notably that responsibilities assumed for certain services by towns with under 20,000 people (most of Mallorca's towns) will shift to the Council of Mallorca, thus eliminating duplication. The number of councillors at town halls is to be reduced as well, but only from 2015, the time of the next local elections.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
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