The new bylaw, which will be open to public scrutiny for a month, prohibits spending the night in caravans and motorhomes in Palma except in authorised areas, with fines ranging from 750 to 1,500 euros; it obliges those who ride electric scooters to take out civil liability insurance (with fines of 600 euros), to wear a helmet and a reflective vest; and it raises the fines for very serious offences to €3,000.
The councillor for Public Safety and Civility, Miguel Busquets, presented the ordinance without mentioning one of its most controversial points, the ban on living in caravans, and defended the need to eradicate behaviour that threatens coexistence. Once the regulation had been approved, the president of the National Platform of Autonomous Motorhomes of Spain, Jesús Gallardo, took the floor in the plenary session, having been given the floor by a neighbourhood association, and he stated that the new civic ordinance is anti-constitutional and contrary to state traffic regulations.
‘They are not terrorists, they are simply motorhome owners, human beings and families who have unfortunately been forced by the system itself to live in their vehicles because they cannot afford housing, and who with the new ordinance are being left even more helpless”, he said.
He pointed out that the municipal by-law violates the Constitution, which recognises the right to decent housing, by not allowing overnight stays in motorhomes when they are approved vehicles.
He added that the Directorate-General for Traffic is against the by-law because “discrimination is not allowed’ and those who use their motorhome as a home should not be penalised, as long as it is properly parked and they do not carry out any activities outside of it.
“Normally, a motorhome is bought for enjoyment. The sad thing is that, in Mallorca, there are people who have to buy a motorhome to be able to live in it because they have nowhere to sleep,” he said. “What do we do with these families? Throw them into the sea? Send them to other nearby towns as is happening and blame the problem on the next mayor?” asked Gallardo, who denounced that “the aim of this ordinance is to hide from all the tourists who come to Mallorca the fact that there is poverty and it is not true that more than 500 people sleep rough”.
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Maybe these hundreds of people should go and sleep on the street outside the mayor's house. Where are they supposed to go when there is no affordable housing, no camp sites etc