British-run club hits back at Palma council over demolition plans

Under plans announced by the Palma city council, the Social Club building will be demolished as part of plans to upgrade the Paseo Maritimo in Palma.

This is a translation of the statement issued by the Club on Friday:.

In view of the news that has appeared in relation to the demolition of the Social Club and the bridge that links the Mediterráneo building to the Club, this organisation wishes to state the following:
1. The site to be demolished has been listed, as part of the Mediterráneo building, in the General Plan of Palma since 1998, and was listed as "important not only as a testimony of leisure architecture, but also for its peculiar stepped structure and its historical significance (enhancement of the Paseo Marítimo, tourist development of the Island)".
2. Social Club has an agreement with the Port Authority under which it may operate the site until 2027.
3. Social Club, despite having a limited right to the site, expresses its disagreement with the destruction of a building of such great historical-tourist value for the city of Palma and which is listed, precisely because of its heritage value, in the PGOU (General Plan) of Palma, when it would be logical to maintain it, as it is perfectly compatible with the works that the Port Authority wishes to carry out and it is necessary for the Paseo Marítimo to continue conserving the traditional leisure offer that it has always had.
4. Social Club fails to understand what rational use of public resources exists in paying a high price for expropriating its rights and demolishing a building and a bridge that are protected because of their heritage value.
5. Social Club trusts that the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands will eventually understand the value of debating the technical discrepancies that exist, in order to reach a solution that allows the conservation of an important place in the history of Palma and which is a characteristic element of the Paseo Marítimo, and which satisfies all those involved, including our workers, suppliers and the citizens and tourists who enjoy a unique leisure offer, in a building and surroundings that define the physiognomy of Palma's promenade.
Social Club states that there are no operational, architectural or economic reasons for starting the remodelling work on Palma's promenade right in the middle, which is where the building and bridge to which their rights refer are located.
6. Social Club states that the public or general interest demands respect for what has been built even beyond the conventional termination of its rights and, if this is not the case, what it demands is simply that the works should be brought into line as necessary, either by starting them at one end of the promenade and allowing the Social Club's activities to continue and that its rights should normally be extinguished without paying a high price at the expense of the public treasury.