GOB wants to call a halt to building

The environment group GOB has sent Chief Minister Francesc Antich its detailed blueprint for a moratorium on building which, it claims, will effectively reduce building capacity, stabilise and reduce the number of tourists and manage resources in a rational way. It says that the current expansion was so exaggerated that it is endangering the natural resources, leading to a degradation in the quality of life. GOB claims that based on what is already constructed in the Balearics, the capacity is for a population of 1.4 million, and this is growing at the rate of more than 45'000 places a year. The powerful environmental group is calling for a thorough overhaul of legislation and planning regulations and the introduction of precautionary measures. Despite the government's stated aims of changing a model of development which is unsustainable, GOB claims that nothing has been done and the legal situation is virtually the same as at the start of the legislature. GOB also claims that all the steps the government is taking to improve water and rubbish management are in danger of failing in view of the potential growth in water consumption and rubbish production as a result of the expected increase in tourists and residents. It proposes restructuring the Balearic economy, in order to contain tourism and reduce numbers and to freeze the construction of new hotels, apartments or houses. This calls for changes to planning regulations and plans which have already been approved as well as a change in tourist, water, energy and rubbish policies, and a precautionary ban on new golf courses and marinas.