Beach parking snarl-ups result in multiple fines

CAMPOS
THE combination of too many cars and illegal parking has once again resulted in serious traffic flow problems on the road which runs down to the small coastal village of ses Covetes in the district of Campos..

Last year, the local town council included its “emergency plan” a strict layout of parking arrangements to open up the access to the beach, previously blocked by the cars of thoughtless visitors. But the reality emerged of people flagrantly breaking the rules leaving the local police no choice but to impose fines - as many as 40 a day and up to 70 at weekends were clocked up during July and August last year. People who wanted to use the beach insisted on parking as closely as they could to the sand, and squeezed their vehicles into whatever corner they could find. One police officer said: “A few weeks ago, we found one car that had been parked squarely - as opposed to in a line against the pavement like everyone else in order to let vehicles pass.” The badly parked car completely blocked the small road down to ses Covetes. Last summer, the new town hall council introduced a whole series of measures to alleviate the parking difficulties including a “parking on one side of the street only” sign which stopped through traffic having to zig-zag its way along a street of cars parked on both sides. Ses Covetes also now has two paying car parks which between them can hold 600 vehicles. With the road improvement project between Campos and sa Rapita, the Council of Majorca also wanted to open up the access to the beach at Es Trenc where there are important natural landscape features but it transpires that the section nearest the coast is privately owned, and due to the sensitive eco-system of this coastal stretch, several environmental studies need to be undertaken before the regional Ministry for the Environment will permit any further development. The need is pressing however as each summer, a bottleneck of cars and beach lovers overwhelm the limited access in its current condition.