Billboard in Mallorca

The impact on the landscape is one reason for removing billboards. | Joan Torres

Andrew EdePalma16/06/2023 08:10
TW
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Over the past eight years, 172 illegal billboards have been removed from the sides of Mallorca's roads. The great majority of them, 144, have gone since 2019, the Balearic government on behalf of the Council of Mallorca having made amendment to the highways law. This had the purpose of making it clearer where billboards were allowed and where they were not.

Between 2015 and 2019, when the Council of Mallorca was governed by the same three parties as from 2019 - PSOE, Més, Podemos - 27 billboards were removed. Prior to this, just one was removed. There are no data earlier than 2013.

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In most cases, the billboards were occupying public domain. They hadn't been given authorisation and should therefore never have been put up. Other reasons have been the impact on the landscape, especially where there have been a number of billboards in one area, and safety. Some were installed without studying how secure they would be. The Council explains that there are also concerns about accidents being caused because drivers are distracted by billboards.

Following the amendment to the highways law, a number of companies responded by withdrawing billboards. They were also liable for fines of between 3,000 and 10,000 euros. There are some cases outstanding, but it's not thought that a change of administration at the Council will alter the process.