On Thursday, Més, one of the opposition parties at Palma town hall, claimed that the Partido Popular administration "is turning Palma into a mega-terrace, with all the increase in chaos and anti-social behaviour this entails".
The cause of this, according to Més and another opposition party, PSOE, was the collapse of the detailed ordinance plan (POD), itself part of the city's general urban plan, in November last year. The opposition accuse the PP and Vox of having encouraged this. Last month, the administration unilaterally terminated the contract held by the company responsible for drafting the revised urban plan, claiming that it was incompetent and had regularly failed to meet deadlines. The revised plan, including the detailed ordinance plan, was set in motion by Més, PSOE and Podemos when they were in coalition.
Kika Coll of Més, said on Thursday: "The permissiveness of PP and Vox makes it increasingly difficult to walk down the street. There is abusive occupation of public space by terraces in Nuredduna, Santa Catalina and Es Jonquet, among other areas."
Francisco Ducrós of PSOE added: "We are receiving many complaints about noise and excessive occupation of terraces. With the failure of the POD, the proliferation of bars has been facilitated. This is the PP model."
Also on Thursday, residents associations held an urgent meeting to discuss what they consider to be the unmeasured expansion of terraces in Palma. Complaints from different parts of the city have increased because markings that indicate terrace limits are not being respected and also because of more extensive signage and greater noise.
Maribel Alcázar, president of the federation of residents associations, said: "There must be some restaurant owners who have come to the conclusion that this administration is turning a blind eye."
The town hall, for its part, insists that there has been no change to the criteria for terrace authorisations. Public way occupation ordinance has not been modified and zonal plans are the same.
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Jules OIt isn't at the moment although some would argue that Santa Catalina is well on its way to that status. Talk to a resident there or in La Lonja who are tearing their hair out with the late night noise nuisance from drinkers. Covid has a lot to answer for on this issue because it forced restaurants and bars to serve outside their premises and now that it's over they aren't retrenching those terrace limits. With tourists you need to be one step ahead and moving against offending places who are disrespecting their local residents is the right move to make.
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyPalma? Really? Party place? Crass exaggeration. Palma is hardly a party place, even Santa Catalina. Try Ibiza, Vegas, Mykonos, Berlin etc.
J MInteresting comment. I agree. I think that many couples and families come over here expecting the island to entertain them. It won't. Visitors need to use the island to entertain themselves. They have to make the effort. Otherwise they may as well stay in their usual place at the King's Arms and be miserable there!
Has anyone noticed that virtually no one appears to be smiling! Are they actually even enjoying being there. I remember walking from Fornalutx to Sollier regularly and I don’t think I once ever saw one of the tourists smile. Even on very narrow footpaths there was never a good morning or smile of recognition, it was like the walking dead. Most tourists sat at their tables glum or had that peculiar nervousness, twitchy look that the British in particular do very well abroad. People moan about youth tourism of excess in other areas but at least they are joyful and actually look like they are enjoying their holiday. The problem for me isn’t overcrowding it’s that they just don’t look like they are having actually enjoying their sardine can experience.
The seepage of drinkers from the allowed confines of terraces into roads and neighbouring streets is happening and it's bad news for residents and others. It begins as a trickle and slowly expands with seemingly no limit to its boundaries. At the height of the Summer season some streets become impassable by cars. Do we really want Palma and other towns to become pedestrianised party places?
Good. Well done PP. Outdoor "cafe culture" is what Mediterranean living is all about. What is the problem?