The opposition groups at Pollensa town hall are demanding that the mayor, Tomeu Cifre, suspends the business activity licence for operating the car park near the beach and hotel in Formentor.
A year ago to the day (June 15), the car park was registered in the town hall's name. This was a requirement for the town hall granting the licence for the redevelopment of the Hotel Formentor. The car park was hotel property. However, after land was registered as municipal, an appeal was lodged against the specific transfer of the car park. This was on the grounds that the car park wasn't a road, lane or path; the hotel was also required to hand these over to the town hall. As the car park couldn't be considered to be a way of some description, it wasn't subject to compulsory transfer of land.
The consequence has been that the hotel continues to operate the car park, and the opposition parties are pointing to how lucrative this is - an estimated 1.25 million euros revenue over the past twelve months.
Mayor Cifre has agreed in principle to revoke the licence for operating the car park. However, and as he points out, a court is currently considering the hotel's claim. If the town hall were to revoke the licence now, it would almost certainly be taken to court again. Moreover, there would be a risk that the hotel's owners would remove all the facilities that the car park has, such as the barriers.
Cifre would prefer there to be an out-of-court settlement whereby the hotel drops litigation in exchange for a town hall concession to operate the car park and for which the hotel would pay an annual fee.