Avel·lí Blasco is one of Majorca's foremost authorities on law. Professor of administrative law at the University of the Balearic Islands, it was he who was invited to report on the award to the Barceló group to run Palma's Palacio de Congresos convention centre. He confirmed that the award should be annulled, which led to the new award being given to Meliá.
He has now stepped into the case of BCM and has considered a September 2016 decree by Calvia's mayor which ordered a review of the club's opening licence that was granted in 1989. Blasco describes the legal argumentation behind the decree as "clearly wrong and erroneous". The professor says that the case is based on alleged planning infringements regarding the installation of air-conditioning in 1988. This should have been dealt with either four or eight years after the work was done: the distinction is due to different items of legislation that could have been applied. In any event, he concludes, this shouldn't be grounds for having annulled the licence.
Blasco notes that a town hall technician came to the same conclusion in March 2015, but he later changed his mind and submitted a report which came to the opposite conclusion, thus opening the way for the licence review. As far as Blasco is concerned, this "radical change" was a breach of the principle of "venire potest contra factum propium", by which "no one may set himself in contradiction to his own previous conduct".
The professor's report is part of evidence being presented against the decree and the subsequent closure of BCM. There is due to be a ruling this week on the appeal.
Town hall spokesperson, councillor Andreu Serra, says that there are "unresolved irregularities" in respect of the air-conditioning and adds that the owners need to sort these out if they want to reopen the club. "It is our duty to ensure that planning regulations are adhered to, as would be the case with other businesses."