Mayor Miquel Àngel March recently gave assurances that he doesn't believe there will be much zoning of holiday rentals in Pollensa. Despite these assurances, he voted in favour of a motion raised by ex-mayor Tomeu Cifre's Tots per Pollença at Thursday's council session.
The Tots motion was that the tourism law should not place zoning restrictions on Pollensa because of the great concern that such restrictions would create. It called for a "significant" number of the rental places (some 42,000 or so in total for the whole island, which includes all types of accommodation) to be given to Pollensa.
The motion was carried overwhelmingly by fifteen votes to two. The Alternativa per Pollença voted against. The party is the principal flag waver against "massification" in Pollensa, while it makes the point - legitimately - about the impact of holiday rentals on the regular market for rentals. March has himself voiced just this worry.
Will the passing of the motion do any good? The zoning decisions are wrapped up in the Council of Majorca's plan for intervention in tourism areas (PIAT). More about this plan should be known before the end of the year. Zones might not be set in stone, but they will be difficult to alter. Town halls, which will actually implement the allocation of places according to the zoning guidelines, have no room to manoeuvre in terms of challenging the Council's decisions and seeking an increase in allocation. They can request fewer places but not more.
The reliance on rentals in Pollensa, as explained many times, is indicated by the fact it is unique among coastal municipalities in having more legal rental places than hotel places. As for the overall supply of holiday rental places (legal or not), there are more per head of population in Pollensa than anywhere else in the country. Or were.
1 comment
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
We used to rent out our apartment for the months prior to the summer when we used it, the balance was spent in bars and restaurants when we arrived.now as we wont rent due to the concern of fines and illegality, approx. 5 familes 10 weeks who would have used the apt and spent approx. 10k in the resort are now going elsewhere and their money, as for us we prob wont have as much spending money so we will be eating in more,what a right mess this is, and I feel sorry for local businesses and our story is prob replicated many many times over why not just make a charge for a license and put certain rules in place such as electrical checks and fees and work for businesses all round most people would jump at the chance to do this. bars, restaurants, taxis, shops etc its a real pity.