Hotel Formentor luxury villas' appeal set to be rejected

The existing urban plan for the area is out of date

The project for the villas is within the hotel's grounds. | MDB

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At Thursday's council meeting in Pollensa, the town hall administration is set to dismiss the appeal by the owners of the Hotel Formentor against the planning moratorium for the area that was approved at the end of January.

In effect for one year, the moratorium has halted the granting of new building licences in Formentor. This directly affects the project to build nine luxury villas on the hotel's grounds - 'branded residences' under the Four Seasons name.

The owners, Inmobiliaria Formentor S.A., have warned that they will claim compensation if, in the end, they are unable to build the villas. They maintain that all requirements for the building have been met. The mayor, Martí March, has made clear that the town hall doesn't envisage having to pay compensation.

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He has argued that the licence application was incomplete and so the town hall is unconcerned about a possible claim. According to current regulations, the company would not be entitled to it.

Opposition parties at the town hall agreed with the moratorium in principle but did raise their concerns about compensation. The mayor hasn't definitively stated the villas won't be built, but the moratorium, as well as halting the issuing of licences, is designed to give the administration time to update the general urban plan as it applies to Formentor and which has been applicable since 1990.

This plan, the mayor has pointed out, is no longer adapted to current reality and does not guarantee adequate protection of an area with significant landscape and environmental value.