The destruction of a mythical landscape

Joan Collins THERE are around 20 places in Andratx where it is possible to observe how building in this area is causing crowding on its coastline. Indeed, just by visiting three of them (Cala Llamp, Camp de Maro and Cala Moragues) anyone can see how the beautiful Andratx countryside has been buried under millions of tonnes of cement and only survives in the pages of some of Baltasa Porcel's novels. It was because of this that the environmental group GOB went on a tour of the hills surrounding the Port of Andratx with the aim of making residents and visitors to Majorca aware of the consequences of an uncontrolled building policy such as the one which has been going on for decades in this locality. Accusations are now being levelled at the Mayor, Eugenio Hidalgo, now that the Public Prosecutor has decided to intervene in this affair, but successive local councils must also take their share of the responsibility in this “free for all” of building licences and reinforced concrete. According to some observers the members of Andratx council are appearing to forget the fact that “a hangover follows a drinking session” and the effects of this could have devastating consequences for a town which for years has dedicated itself to a single tourism aim, promoting its natural surroundings as its greatest attraction. According to GOB, the building boom “is negatively affecting the environmental quality as well as the quality of life of the residents, not forgetting the loss of tourists due to overcrowding, and the loss of quality of the natural surroundings which are the result of the constant territorial and aesthetic aggression”. The President and spokesman for GOB, Macia Blasquez and Miquel Angel March, warned that “the Subsidiary Rules of the town council are not the solution to the coastal disfiguration of Andratx”. And, according to Blasquez and March, “these Subsidiary Rules are allowing a totally uncontrolled growth, aggravating the existing situation, which needs to be cut back drastically”. GOB concludes that “it is essential to put a stop to the building immediately. If not, they are mortgaging the future of this town”, said the ecological representatives.