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With the recently created Hiking Group for the Detection of Territorial Messes (GEDET for short, in Catalan), the new Via Menorca campaign has started today with the first of the excursions planned for this winter.

Around 200 people set out to walk a route of contrasts. The preservation of the first kilometers along the Camí de Cavalls has clashed with the detection of three unprecedented damages, located in three agrotourism establishments close to each other, in the municipality of Alaior.

Via Menorca is an initiative that combines protest with proposal and seeks to ensure that the island can have a future not based on tourist overcrowding, urban speculation, and loss of identity.

Up to now, the focus has been placed on the saturation of spaces, the gentrification of villages, the mirage of economic growth, the limitation of tourist vehicles, the attempts to modify the Territorial Plan, and on making visible the problems and threats looming over the territory.

Today, three cases involving deception have been physically pointed out, three examples of environmental makeup that ultimately become an aggression against the island’s aquifers, where the institutional response has so far not been up to the scale of the problem.

True to the style applied so far, the excursion included participatory and fun activities with content, and it was the collective attendance that shaped the message now conveyed to the rest of society.

The cases discussed are:

1. Sant Llorenç
   Where there should have been green filters to naturally purify the water and then use it to irrigate garden areas, nine illegal swimming pools were detected, as well as an unplanned 1,500 m² parking area. There is an open file in the Consortium, but consultation is not allowed. It is unknown in what state it is or what sanction has been proposed. The case cannot be legalized at the moment, because the current Territorial Plan only allows one swimming pool per agrotourism establishment.
2. Torre Vella
   Seven undeclared swimming pools were detected. The open file proposed a sanction of 1.5 million euros. The promoters submitted documentation to legalize the situation, and Via Menorca was not allowed to consult it. Legalization by the Alaior City Council has led to a minimal sanction and a revaluation of the infringing agrotourism. The case has been taken to court by the Avançam municipal group.

As if that were not enough, the three cases correspond to different promoters, but they share the same environmental consultant. This is the consultant who is now drafting the environmental section of the modification of the Island Territorial Plan. Among the modification proposals disclosed this summer was the possibility of removing the limits on the number of swimming pools in agrotourism establishments, something that could allow the legalization of the infringements committed. What a coincidence…

Do not miss the next GEDET excursions, which will reveal more details on the most notorious territorial infringements in Menorca. Sign up to receive the list of news.