The Balearic parliament yesterday approved a motion presented by David Abril of Més by which the central government is to be called upon to comply with the Balearics statute of autonomy as it applies to the coastal public domain. In other words, the parliament wants regional powers to determine works and activities on the coast.
Parliament agreed that the coast should be protected as a "common good" and that it should not be subordinate to "private interests and business". Madrid is therefore being asked to ensure that the Balearics have responsibilities for the management of the coastal public domain. This would mean having the power to authorise (or not) activities on beaches and to grant concessions (or not). As reported in the Bulletin yesterday, this power would cover the installation of services such as beach bars and sunloungers.
The central government is also to be urged to amend the Coasts Law in order to increase regional powers for coastal management.
At present, the Costas Authority, which is part of the national environment ministry, has the ultimate say-so for all activities on beaches. With sunloungers and beach bars, the authorisation for these and indeed their specifications are subject to periodic renewal. Town halls are obliged to apply to the Costas for this authorisation.
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Out of interest, what happened to the ghastly floating bouncy castle things that were every where last year ! Pleased they gone though, they looked dangerous and spoilt the outlook !
I understand the desire to control what happens on the beaches locally, but can we trust the local politician not to apply a sun bed tax, to add to other charges and taxes they are all so prepared to apply to Tourists who do not vote in Mallorca.
Local politicans ? Sensible discretion ?
I posted a comment the other day because I understood Mes to be opposing ALL sunbeds etc. - however there clearly are some lovely stretches of coast where such beach furniture would be inappropriate. If I read the above article correctly, then it means that local politicians are not proposing a blanket ban, just the right to use sensible discretion.