Tramuntana Mountains 'planning amnesty' risks violating World Heritage Site status

Call for UNESCO to rule on the government's measures

Tramuntana Mountains, Mallorca

The mountains have been a World Heritage Site since 2011 | Photo: MDB

| Palma |

The Tramuntana Mountains were declared a World Heritage Site in 2011. A principle underpinning this UNESCO declaration is 'non-regression', meaning that there should be no reduction in the level of protection or conservation. Public authorities are obliged to safeguard the exceptional value of sites and must avoid any action that could lead to the loss of world heritage status.

In 2011, planning regulations prohibited residential use on protected rural land and established that there was no statute of limitations in respect of violations. The so-called planning amnesty that the Balearic Government now intends for the Tramuntana will make it possible to legalise illegally built properties and will also apply an eight-year statute of limitations.

Lawyer Pep Alonso, who among other things has represented the environmentalists GOB on various occasions, also refers to Constitutional Court ruling of 2015. In his opinion, the duty of conservation incumbent on public authorities, as established by the court, would not allow the adoption of measures "of such magnitude that they represent a clear regression in the level of protection achieved after decades of protective intervention". The measures are those contemplated by the government.

He believes that UNESCO's technical evaluation committee should visit Mallorca and rule on the matter and notes that a compromise brought before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday was "dominated by short-term and developmental planning approaches".

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