Earth, wind and fire
Two of the worst forest fires in Mallorca and the Balearics over the past fifty years - more than 1,000 hectares burned - have been in Andratx. The fire of summer 2013 was the worst of all. This claimed 2,335 hectares; parts of Calvia and Estellencs were also affected. In the records for large fires since 1974, Andratx appears five times. Along with Arta, Andratx has the worst record in Mallorca, so when a fire breaks out there is heightened concern because of the history.
The fire off the Andratx-Estellencs main road that was declared late on Saturday night mercifully claimed only seventy hectares. Under the circumstances - the wind that was blowing - firefighters did a remarkable job. The wind was such that aerial support from water bombers couldn't be deployed. On Monday the wind had dropped and a helicopter was brought in. By midday Monday it was out.
The damage by comparison with some previous Andratx fires wasn't great. Even so, it was one of the worst fires in the Balearics this year. Guardia Civil investigators suspect there was negligence. We will no doubt learn more in due course. But whatever the cause, this certainly wasn't the first time that there was a fire of significance that didn't coincide with the annual summer season fire prevention campaign.
This runs from May to October, the risk of fire because of high temperatures clearly being elevated in the summer. However, perhaps this campaign needs adapting. For the fire at the weekend, a call went out for Civil Protection volunteers from across Mallorca to help. They would do with major fires in the summer, but in the winter the environment ministry's brigade capacity isn't as great as in the summer.
On Saturday night, the wind was so fierce that a Ryanair flight from Santiago de Compostela had to abort landing in Palma. Passengers were terrified, but more was to come. The plane diverted to Valencia, where passengers were under the impression that another attempt would be made to land in Palma. Some got off the plane and were told they could claim for the cost of another flight. Others stayed on. They say they hadn't realised that the plane was in fact going to return to Santiago and not head for Palma. Ryanair says they were informed of this and that they were offered alternative flights or a full refund once in Santiago. The passengers deny this. They had to make their own way to Palma, and some didn't arrive until Monday night or even Tuesday morning. One issue was the high cost of a limited number of Sunday flights from Galicia. In certain instances, passengers hired cars to drive to Madrid in order to get flights to Palma. Claims have been made.
And also flooding
In light of recent events, the risk of catastrophic flooding in Mallorca has once again drawn particular attention to the island's torrents. A Sa Pobla farmer, Pep Cirer, and a Pollensa photographer, Miquel Micer, have made a documentary about torrents. They point to a "political obsession" that has guided policy-making. A form of "greenphobia", the consequence has been a destruction of torrents' natural capacity for filtering water. Most obviously this has entailed the use of concrete. If the torrent bed hasn't always had concrete laid, concrete sides have been created. The Búger torrent by Pep's ecological farm is an example.
The documentary also highlights the impact of intensive farming that has led to a loss of vegetation by torrents. Trees' roots had anchored the soil, but many of the trees have gone, and so the sides of torrents have been eroded. The government has recently announced a trebling of investment in torrents. Pep fears the same mistakes will simply be repeated.
Errors galore
The changes in administrations after last year's elections led to an extraordinary discovery at the Council of Mallorca's territory department. Amendments to the island's territorial plan had been made just prior to the May election. Contracted out to an external company because of a lack of qualified personnel capable of processing such complex regulatory changes, these amendments should have been checked by department technicians. Seemingly, however, they were not.
In the haste to push through the amendments, seventeen errors were made. These included removing protection from five areas classified as being of special natural interest plus approval for the expansion of three marinas - Bonaire (Alcudia), Puerto Alcudia and Santa Ponsa - that had been expressly prohibited. The amendments also managed to exclude the entire demarcation of maritime-terrestrial public domain on the coasts of Mallorca.
The "botched job", as the current Council of Mallorca administration describes all this, has now been rectified. Meanwhile, none of the errors have led to any development.
The tourism industry in Mallorca and indeed Spain as a whole has highlighted different types of error and what the industry believes will be highly damaging. These relate to the controversial new traveller registration system that came into force on December 2. At a Palma meeting on Tuesday involving the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation and the Aviba association of travel agencies, full support was given to a national call to consider legal action against the interior ministry if it doesn't rectify errors.
Critics of the system continue to insist that it is excessively bureaucratic and time-consuming, an invasion of privacy and a breach of data protection law. Moreover, they don't believe it will deter "real criminals", the ministry arguing that the new requirements are needed to combat terrorism and organised crime.
A consultative period was due to end on Friday (December 13). Pedro Fiol, the Aviba president, hoped that an order from the interior minister will follow and will address these "errors". If not, the tourism industry will see the government in court.
Tourism and noise volumes; Palma looks to the US
Spain's secretary-of-state for tourism is from Mallorca. Rosario Sánchez backs the interior ministry's new system, which won't necessarily ingratiate her with the industry. Otherwise, she was saying last weekend that intensive tourism activity can have undesired effects (which we all realise). "People can perceive a loss of quality of life. At the same time they do not see the benefits. It is evident that we cannot absorb more volume in certain places and at certain times of the year."
Statements of the obvious, but did she have Palma all year in mind? The town hall has approved the 2025 budget for the Palma 365 Tourism Foundation. The main focus for the foundation next year will be the American market - "a very interesting market for Palma", says tourism councillor Javier Bonet. This is because it has "one of the best profiles" in terms of spending and has an interest in culture, heritage and gastronomy; not the bread and butter of sun and beach, therefore.
Noise can be an inevitable by-product of tourism, but tourists can't solely be blamed for noise. Definitely lot, most of it along Palma's Paseo Marítimo, for instance, being generated by and because of residents. It is a nightlife zone. Such is the noise that over one 48-hour period, sound-level sensors detected 420 occasions when 80 decibels were exceeded more than three times in the space of half an hour. This was noise from nightlife establishments.
A network of sound-level meters is being developed that will be the largest in Spain. Paid for by residents association and with the technology having been endorsed, the readings, says the chief engineer, could result in an avalanche of complaints against the town hall. It was recently on the wrong end of a court ruling in respect of excessive noise from two venues on the Paseo Marítimo.
Affording the rent or not
The town hall will cede six plots of municipal land in Palma for developers to build 363 homes to be made available at 'limited price' for renting. The price will be determined by the government and the properties will come under public ownership after a maximum of 75 years. The developers will take the rental income and have to bear the costs of maintenance and other management.
All good, but it is being made clear that these won't be social housing. They will be for a middle class with incomes above the threshold for social housing and with the financial means to afford these limited-price rents but who can't afford market rates or indeed get on the property ownership ladder. The final conditions have to be ironed out, but at present and somewhat surprisingly, it will be the developers who select applicants for these apartments.
The third-quarter report from the General Council of the Judiciary indicates that the Balearics had the highest rate of evictions for non-payment of rents in the country. Based on population, this rate was 14.8 per 100,000 people (183 evictions). It was followed by Catalonia with 12.8, the Canaries with 11.8 and Valencia with 9.2.
It doesn't automatically follow, but this rate may well have something do with the fact that rents are, generally speaking, so high. Not just high; exorbitant.