Aurora Ribot, the coordinator of Podemos in Majorca, has expressed her party's satisfaction at the Balearic High Court having dismissed an appeal to allow development of a retail and leisure centre in Ses Fontanelles, Playa de Palma.
Speaking on Friday, she said that large malls such as this do "irreparable damage to small businesses and to our fragile territory". The Palma Springs complex that has been planned for Ses Fontanelles was due to have been built in a wetland area of "incalculable environmental value that we must conserve". "It would have seriously damaged the area, which has more than 110 catalogued bird species." The effect on small businesses and the self-employed would have been "devastating". "Podemos have always maintained that enough is enough with projects of this scale. The FAN Mallorca centre has already shown us the serious distortion of the environment from projects with these characteristics."
The high court dismissed the appeal by the developer Unibail Rodamco against the Balearic government's decision to deny authorisation for opening a large complex. The court observed that the land had not been "urbanised" in that certain services had to have been developed. This had been a condition for a previous court ruling to allow a centre to be opened and was a basis for now rejecting the appeal.
The developer can make a further appeal - this time to the Supreme Court in Madrid.