The Council of Majorca yesterday approved the initial zoning of holiday rentals. The voting was 16 in favour and 15 against.
Mercedes Garrido, the councillor for land, told the other councillors that the zoning proposal "doesn't prohibit anything". She added that "nothing has been closed" in that there will now be a period of consultation during which town halls, political parties and organisations can make their submissions. Describing the zoning as "brave, open and balanced", Garrido noted that there is to be a meeting with all mayors on Wednesday.
She insisted that the zoning faces the "challenge of providing the population with decent housing and at a decent price". She also explained that it is provisional until the PIAT (plan for intervention in tourist areas) is approved.
Opposition criticism that the zoning amounts to prohibition was rejected. Garrido said that there are instead restrictions, when referring to the in total 36 locations which have been classified as "saturated" and for which there will be a sixty-day limit on rentals per annum (in an owner's main place of residence).
The Partido Popular, El Pi and Ciudadanos all lined up against the Council's ruling parties in voting against the zoning and voicing their disapproval. Estalisnao Pons of the C's said that his party is in favour of regulating holiday rental but that what has been proposed is a botched job. "A new document should be drawn up which reflects consensus among the political parties, town halls and interested groups." He and the PP's Mauricio Rovira stressed that no "uniform criteria" had been adopted for classifying zones.
Rovira added that at this stage it isn't known if the initial approval zoning proposal will be affected by the initial approval of the PIAT. Antoni Amengual echoed what Rovira had to say in describing the zoning as a "nonsense". In less than three months, the Council's administration had made a diagnosis and presented a solution, when such a task cannot be done in a short period of time. A "serious study", he suggested, would not have produced such a "total mess".
The zoning was defended by Més, Podemos and PSOE. Ivan Sevillano of Podemos said that it will mean environmental and territorial preservation and will ensure that the Tramuntana Mountains are "widely protected". Mercè Bujosa of Més insisted that it "favours everyone; those who rent, as they will have more guarantees, and residents".
Rovira returned to the fray. "No one likes it, only the parties which make up the administration." He referred to "obscure and absurd formulas that you have applied as you have wished" and criticised Garrido for being sustained by support from "some radical and communist partners".