The Partido Popular administration at Palma Town Hall has delayed approval of its revised civic ordinance by at least one month.
Mayor Jaime Martínez and his team were due to have taken the regulations to this month's full council session. They are now looking at a vote in January, the reason being that they are open to incorporating amendments from the main opposition party, PSOE.
As in the Balearic Parliament, the PP are reliant on the support of Vox, who don't form part of the administration. Relations between the two parties are generally more cordial at the town hall than in parliament. There isn't a suggestion that the delay in approving the ordinance has anything to do with the rupture in parliament. Vox are broadly in favour of the provisions.
However, some of its content has been challenged by the opposition. While Més and Podemos want to amend the whole ordinance, PSOE have presented thirteen specific amendments, and consideration is being given to several of these.
Many of the proposed new regulations aren't especially controversial, e.g. those for tackling street drinking, vandalism and street betting. But some are, most notably those for the use of motorhomes (and similar) as living accommodation. For example, spending a night in a motorhome could incur a fine of up to 1,500 euros. People living in motorhomes at improvised settlements, such as by the Son Hugo swimming pools, face an uncertain future because of these regulations.
The measures have been widely criticised, the opposition having branded them "persecution of citizens". Vox, for their part, have proposed the establishment of authorised settlements with basic services - water, electricity, waste.
Another proposed regulation to have aroused some heated debate has to do with guided tours. The PP want to reduce the maximum number of visitors being given tours from seventy to twenty. The travel agencies association in the Balearics has been especially critical of this.