In accordance with the law, the Playa de Palma could be granted new powers and authority as a district but the council has refused to agree to any such proposal.
According to Jose Antonio Fernandez de Alaracon, vice president of the Playa de Palma Hotel Association, hotels in the resort generate 34 percent of the council’s income but all that the Playa de Palma receives in return is a maximum of 10 percent “and that is why we want to be able to manage our own financial affairs as a district and invest that money into handling issues which affect us most such as anti social behaviour which we are sick and tired of.
“We’ve had enough of being ignored. For decades, the Playa de Palma has been ignored. There has been no investment in new infrastructure, there is a lack of adequate cleaning services, control of illegal and poor behaviour and we’ve reached the point where some drastic and urgent action needs to be taken and if the council will not act, then we want to be awarded the power to act alone and tackle the problems we face year after year.
“In Germany it is well known that for years our politicians have been unable to crackdown and eradicate ‘alcohol tourism’ and all this does is encourage more and more people to come to resorts to behave anti socially.
“We are only talking about four kilometres of beach. We just can’t understand why no one has been able to take control of the area and enforce the law,” he added before going on to praise the work that has been carried out by councils in Calvia and Llucmajor with regards to tackling anti social behaviour.
However, as far as Palma council is concerned, it is doing all it can. There is a special commission monitoring the situation and the number of police has been increased from 20 to 35 this summer.
