Costas Authority chaos in the Balearics

Pousa points out that the delegation in the Balearics manages the most kilometres of coast in the whole of Spain. It has to deal with a huge volume of work but with a significant under-provision of resources.

After the Balearics, the three regions with the most coast are Andalusia, the Canaries and Galicia. But whereas the Balearics have the one delegation for the whole region, the task of managing the coasts in the Canaries is split between two delegations, in Galicia between three, and in Andalusia between five.

As of this Saturday (July 1), Balearic management of the islands' coasts will become effective, powers having been transferred from the state. The number of staff will increase from 18 at the regional delegation of the Costas to 38.

No head of the new regional department for the coasts has yet been appointed. The outgoing government opted to wait until after the elections to make an appointment, so the new government of the Partido Popular is free to appoint who it wishes. The PP have said that there will be a ministry of the sea. The coasts department will therefore come under this ministry. It will be responsible for authorisation of activities on public maritime domain; concessions for the likes of beach services; and inspections and sanctions.

The outgoing environment minister, Miquel Mir, said some time ago that the transfer of powers would not affect proceedings that the Costas had opened. There are certain well-publicised cases that are yet to be fully resolved, e.g. El Bungalow in Ciudad Jardín in Palma, where members of the PP, including Marga Prohens, had lunch on the day of reflection - the day before the May 28 elections.