The number of new swimming pools built on the top of buildings in Palma has tripled in the last 10 years.
In 2009, 113 pools were approved by the Gerència d’Urbanisme, 186 were added in 2017, 253 in 2018 and by last year there were 350, according to figures provided by Palma City Council.
In a bid to call a halt to the trend for rooftop pools, Palma City Council issued a new instruction last November limiting the construction of swimming pools on the roofs of buildings.
There’s been a radical decrease in the number of applications for indoor pools with only three building permits approved by the Gerència d’Urbanisme since then, which were all for projects submitted prior to the change in criteria.
“This instruction has served to review and set a criterion in accordance with the literalness of the rule and will be in force until the final regulation is established in the framework of the review of the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU)," said City Model Councillor, Neus Truyol.
"In recent years the installation of swimming pools became a problem that had to be solved, both in terms of coexistence in some neighbourhoods, the negative impact they had on the urban environment and also because of excessive water consumption,” he said.