The official name is Campet de les Ànimes. Field of souls, you could say. Not that it is a field, while the souls should really be the soles of shoes as Alcudia Fair visitors attend the animals' zone or drivers tramp through mud when it rains. It has been known for the Campet to be reasonably level, but it has an unerring capacity to then rediscover its pits and bumps. Boing, boing goes the suspension. The Campet is better known as Beirut.
The town hall owns Beirut, as it owns other plots in the vicinity of Pollentia. Ownership isn't the problem, it's that good old problem of land classification. And where classification is in doubt, you can normally find representatives of the GOB environmentalists digging in the rustic dirt in search of "irregular" activity. Joined by the reactivated Moviment Alcudienc plus Podemos, GOB have recently returned to Beirut and asserted the rights of the souls, whichever these may be, as they certainly aren't cars - or not where GOB are concerned at any rate.
Around a year ago, attention was drawn - by GOB - to the protected rustic classification of the Campet and other plots that are used for parking. They are "totally illegal", GOB insist. Although the town hall decreed the closure of certain lots at the start of this year, spokesperson Margalida Ramis expressed her regret that this had not yet been made effective. Had she parked in Beirut for the photos to be taken of the visit last weekend? Probably not. One guesses that GOB spokespeople take the bus rather than drive.
The environmentalists insist that the Council of Mallorca's agency for the defence of territory (ADT) acts immediately and seals these lots off. The ADT says that it doesn't have the powers to act. Alcudia is one of a minority of town halls not to have delegated responsibilities to the ADT, which is a body concerned with rustic land - normally buildings but sometimes also the likes of car parks.
One can only be thankful that there hasn't been delegation, as there would be utter chaos if these plots were closed off. As it is, they might be. The ADT can actually intervene if there isn't a town hall resolution by March 24 next year. Mayor Fina Linares explains that one of the ways of resolving the matter is to modify the land classification.
And quite frankly, one hopes that this is done. There has to be parking in the centre, whether GOB and Moviment Alcudienc like it or not. Beirut may not be a perfect solution, but it is a solution. Meanwhile, if parking were to be barred, what about the animals' zone for the fair? One guesses that this would meet with GOB's approval, even though it is necessary to install temporary structures which might be deemed contrary to land classification regulations.
This said, if there has been a situation with the legality - and it isn't that this has suddenly arisen as it has cropped up in the past - then why has it required this latest GOB initiative to bring matters to a head? Maybe it's been convenient to simply ignore the reality. But then the reality is that there has got to be a decent amount of parking.