Mayor Jaime Martínez and his team were due to have taken the regulations to this month's full council session. They are now looking at a vote in January, the reason being that they are open to incorporating amendments from the main opposition party, PSOE.
As in the Balearic Parliament, the PP are reliant on the support of Vox, who don't form part of the administration. Relations between the two parties are generally more cordial at the town hall than in parliament. There isn't a suggestion that the delay in approving the ordinance has anything to do with the rupture in parliament. Vox are broadly in favour of the provisions.
However, some of its content has been challenged by the opposition. While Més and Podemos want to amend the whole ordinance, PSOE have presented thirteen specific amendments, and consideration is being given to several of these.
Many of the proposed new regulations aren't especially controversial, e.g. those for tackling street drinking, vandalism and street betting. But some are, most notably those for the use of motorhomes (and similar) as living accommodation. For example, spending a night in a motorhome could incur a fine of up to 1,500 euros. People living in motorhomes at improvised settlements, such as by the Son Hugo swimming pools, face an uncertain future because of these regulations.
The measures have been widely criticised, the opposition having branded them "persecution of citizens". Vox, for their part, have proposed the establishment of authorised settlements with basic services - water, electricity, waste.
Another proposed regulation to have aroused some heated debate has to do with guided tours. The PP want to reduce the maximum number of visitors being given tours from seventy to twenty. The travel agencies association in the Balearics has been especially critical of this.
6 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Stan The ManYou can pick one up for less than 10k but what's your point. Are you going to say that if they can afford one of them they can afford rent?. Get a grip Stan.
Stan The ManHow long is a piece of string? 1000 - 30000 EUR, depending on age and condition. But you could have found that out for yourself.
Johnny CHow much do these vehicles cost?
Stan The ManYou really don’t understand the story. These poor people are not holidaymakers trying to avoid paying hotel rates, many of these people have jobs but simply can’t afford to pay the exorbitant rents being charged. As an avid reader of the MDB, you will have read about the situation in Ibiza in the summer; policemen, hospitality workers and many others were forced to sleep in cars because their wages won’t cover renting any form of accommodation. So you’d be happy to see a local policemen fined 1,500 € a night for sleeping in a car? The law would apply to sleeping in any motor vehicle. You seriously lack compassion for those less fortunate than yourself. I don’t know what sort of accommodation you live in, but many of the apartment blocks here are total eyesores.
I do not like these vehicles. They are an eye sore. They are beginning to be parked all over thenIsland. The Hoteliers realise they do not want to stay in an Hotel. Serious regulations are urgently needed , to deal with the rapidly increasing plethora of MotorHomes in Mallorca.
'spending a night in a motorhome could incur a fine of up to 1,500 euros.' So is Palma council going to provide accommodation for these hundreds of people? Maybe the mayor should let them sleep at his house seeing as he is forcing them to sleep on the street. Absolute scumbags the politicians that kick people when they are already down!