Around Majorca

SANT JOAN
Minister for the Presidents Office and Sports Affairs, Rosa Puig, and the mayor of Sant Joan, Joan Matas, have signed an agreement by which the municipality will provide 13'000 square metres of ground to the Balearic government for the construction of an old people's residential home for opening in June 2006.

According to ministry sources, the works on the centre will begin in March next year and will take 18 months to complete. Puig's department pointed out that this residence for the elderly is one of 12 planned by the Balearic government for Majorca. Similar projects are in the pipeline for Santanyi, Marratxi, Capdepera, Palma, Calvia, Montuiri, Pollensa and Inca. The 12 centres, which in total will cost about 6 million euros, will each provide accommodation for between 100 and 120 elderly residents.

Smokeless zone

MANACOR
The managing director of the Manacor Hospital Foundation, Antoni Mesquida has confirmed that the health centre has subscribed to the European programme “Hospitals without Smoke”, with the aim of holding itself up “as a mirror to citizens in the area”. “Hospitals without Smoke” is planning a series of actions such as the printing of enquiries on tobacco smoking amongst health workers, which will be repeated within one year to obesrve what level of influence the European campaign has had among individual smokers who work in the hospital.

During the presentation of the campaign, the hospital director signalled that “the areas where smoking is allowed have become notably reduced. Now one is only allowed to smoke in one small corner of the cafeteria”.

Teaching in English

ARTA
Students who a few years ago begun to study part of their curriculum in English at the Na Caragol primary school in Arta, are continuing the practice at a secondary educational level at the Llorenç Garcias i Font Institute in the same locality.

This educational centre is launching the first courses of teaching subjects in English at a secondary school level, becoming the only one on Majorca to do so and one of the 44 colleges which are developing this new education system throughout Spain.

The project comes under the auspices of an agreement signed between the British Council and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. So, as of the start of the 2004-2005 academic year, the Llorenç Garcias i Font institute will have as part of its curriculum, the teaching of specific subjects in English, including natural sciences and computer studies. “No” to artificial beach

SON SERVERA
F ollowing the recent Socialist group's denouncement of the fact that the “Coastal department had made previous studies for the construction of an artificial beach in Cala Bona at the request of a hotelier in the area”, authorised sources of the central government Environment ministry have signalled that they have “never had plans to build the artifiical beach. If the Town Council of Son Servera have proposed it, perhaps they will study the idea, but unless there are exceptional circumstances, it is not on our agenda”. The ministry confirmed having arranged for studies to be made in Cala Bona “but they were never related to an artificial beach but instead to boundary demarcations”.

Building plans reduced

SOLLER
The building promoter of the second phase of the Muleta housing development has officially proposed to Soller Town Council they “only” build 30 chalets instead of the 70 allowed under current licenses.

According to Works and Town Planning councillor, Gabriel Darder, the company has claimed that they are not willing to lower any further the amount of property which they are licensed to build in this second phase, and have indicated that if an agreement is not reached over the number of homes to be built, they will resort to law to claim the right to build the full amount.