City council to close down two more car hire firms

THE Local Police will close down two hire car firms which are illegally parking their vehicles on country land tomorrow, bringing the total of such closure orders up to 24 since December 2002. Rodrigo de Santos, the city councillor in charge of planning, said that 36 firms had been investigated since that date. Apart from the 24 closures, eight firms voluntarily removed their cars from country land, three had licences to continue there, and one case has been shelved. Six of the firms which have been closed have already moved their cars from the sites, most of which are in the neighbourhood of the airport. The city council was forced to take action over the illegal use of tracts of country land for parking the huge fleet of hire cars following complaints from the car hire firms which complied with council guidelines, which also ban parking cars for hire in the streets, outside company offices. De Santos also announced that the council is studying changes to the general development plan of the city so that two sites, one in Son Fangos and one by the EMT (municipal bus company) depot can be reclassified in order for the rental cars to be parked there. De Santos also announced that the council has approved the cession of the site known as Son Espases to the Balearic Government, despite four objections lodged against the move.