The Balearic Government's land liberalisation law has removed protection from approximately 26,000 hectares of rustic land and will allow the construction of 1,317 detached houses in fire-risk zones in Mallorca. This law also enables construction where there are risks of landslides, erosion and pollution as well as threats to the quality of aquifers. The figure of 1,317 applies only to fire-risk zones.
Geographer Mateu Vic has come up with this calculation, and he says it is an underestimate. "I have used a conservative calculation to be more precise. I prefer to be on the low side."
This does not include construction arising from joining two adjacent properties, a practice that is very common. Two adjacent plots are purchased so that together they add up to the minimum buildable area permitted by law. "Just by looking at plots that are entirely within fire-risk areas, I have identified 104. If we were to look at those that are only partially within risk prevention areas, the figure of 1,317 would increase by hundreds, perhaps even thousands."
According to data from the University of the Balearic Islands, more than 40% of permits for rustic land construction issued between 2015 and 2023 related to the grouping of plots. Vic describes the situation in Mallorca as an "anomaly" compared with the rest of Spain in that construction of this type has been permitted. "No political party has been willing to change this situation."
This said, the previous government established restrictions on building in these risk prevention areas. It is these restrictions that the current government is eliminating.
Vic has come up with his calculations, whereas neither the Council of Mallorca nor the Balearic Government claim to have any. "They don't even know how many houses can be built in total, even though they have more resources to do so." He adds that the Council and the government have not refuted data that were published by the now defunct environmentalist group Terraferida.
Vic had input to Terraferida research of 2021, which indicated that 11,200 houses could be built on rustic land, a number that didn't reflect an increase through the combining of plots.