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Consell holds July plenary

foto 2021 ple juliolAt today’s July plenary assembly of local government, participants unanimously granted initial approval to proposed regulations of use at the Formentera skate park. Youth department chief Vanessa Parellada indicated admission at the park would be free and that park users would be subject to certain rules, such as, for children under 12, that an adult accompany them while at the skate park. The only equipment approved for use at the skate park are skateboards, scooters, roller-skates, rollerblades and BMX bikes, and park users must wear approved helmets, elbow- and knee-pads and other protective gear. Park users are also required to come in appropriate footwear, and can’t play ball games like football, bring food or bottles made of glass or containing beverages other than water or sports drinks, smoke, litter or sit on the rim of the bowl structure, on benches around the park’s circumference or inside it.

Councillor Parellada said that next week a large poster would feature an easy to follow summary and graphic illustration of the main rules. Rules displayed on posters since the park opened were shaped with outside input, she said, highlighting conversations with the future park’s users about what their particular needs and wishes were. “The next poster will be bigger and more visual”, she concluded.

Patchy coverage
Gent per Formentera and PSOE cabinet members united with opposition councillors to pass a proposal regarding recurring failures in mobile phone coverage on the island. Local legislators urged the responsible government agencies to take necessary steps within their respective powers to urgently address inadequate network signal on Formentera.

Councillor Parellada, who also heads the island’s department of new technologies, held that residents of Formentera face a “twice-compounded isolation in their personal, family and professional lives” and that islanders remain “on unequal footing in terms of opportunities and competitiveness” compared to people in other Spanish territories. The pandemic has thrown that disadvantage into relief, said Parellada, stressing that “Formentera residents are in the unique position of requiring communications and new technologies for services which people in other territories can access without such technology”. The councillor insisted that, with plenary support, her department would be in a “much better position to demand quality service for all of Formentera”.

Reusing sludge from waste water treatment plant
Assembly members once again came together to push the Balearic environment ministry to work with Formentera’s government on a plan for how to use sludge from the waste water treatment plant in a way that respects municipal regulations on non-hazardous waste.

Environment chief Antonio J. Sanz highlighted La Mola residents’ repeated complaints about flies and a foul smell emanating from WWTP sludge which was applied in the area. She insisted no notice was given of plans to use the sludge on the island.

“Sludge is a fine example of something that can be repurposed to support agriculture and the circular economy”, said Sanz, “but it mustn’t be a nuisance or generate problems for neighbours and public health".

Other proposals
Plenary participants again struck unity on three proposals tabled by representatives of Sa Unió:

First, to improve and condition the surface of Sa Senieta car park; review horizontal and vertical road signage, and optimise surveillance in response to capacity issues.

Second, to ask the Balearic Civil Law Advisory Council (CLAC), and by extension the CLAC of Eivissa-Formentera, to study the impact on Balearic civil law, specifically provisions applicable to Eivissa and Formentera, of legislation adopted on 9 July to prevent and combat tax fraud. The Spanish law, a transposition of Council Directive (EU) 2016/1164, lays down a series of rules, including one to prevent and combat tax avoidance practices which directly affect the functioning of the internal market, another concerning amendments to tax rules and a third on gambling. The report will be used to determine whether or not such legislation is constitutional and, if so, press the Balearic government or parliament to take steps to denounce it as such. Assembly members also agreed such communication with the Balearic authorities should include condemnation of the legislation on the grounds it impinges on the independence of local government.
 
And finally, at the behest of the opposition, assembly members called for changes to enhance the effectiveness of the current ordinance on illegal street-side vending by increasing fines and making other financial modifications.

Report from Ana Juan
Ana Juan took the assembly floor today to detail efforts within the housing, seniors, commerce and entrepreneurship departments: “Recent months have seen renewed focus on responding to the public health emergency at hand and reducing the economic toll of the pandemic on the most vulnerable, including self-employed people and business owners”.

Meanwhile, work within the entrepreneurship office has centred on employment and training for the jobless, and the housing office has orchestrated the first-ever rollout of renters’ assistance (a second round of handouts has already secured plenary backing). On trade, the councillor highlighted collaborative campaigns this year with businesses, as well as tax breaks. On efforts within the seniors department, Juan pointed to improvement and maintenance work carried out during closures, and to new defibrillators to make seniors’ clubs heart-safe.

30 July 2021
Communications Department
Council of Formentera

Over 150 rental cars ticketed in July

foto 2021 sancions vehicles

The Formentera Departments of Mobility and Interior report that this July, 11 rental vehicles towed from the overflow lot across from Plaça de les Illes Pitiüses in La Savina have been impounded by municipal authorities for failing to display required parking permits. The €90 fines are issued by parking attendants, with motorists also on the hook to repay towing costs. None of the cited vehicles displayed the identification required of rental cars, so their owners face additional fines of up to €1,000. Failure to possess accreditation to drive and park on the island means tertiary fines faced by vehicle owners could range between €1,000 and €10,000.

In addition, during the month of July Formentera Local Police issued 140 citations concerning unrented vehicles for hire that were parked in public spots in La Savina and Sant Francesc. Depending on the seriousness of cases and the total tally of vehicles, fines vary between €1,000 and €30,000. Again, the cited vehicles were found without the appropriate rental vehicle identification, a violation carrying an additional fine of up to €1,000, and without formentera.eco accreditation to drive or park, putting them on the hook for another fine of between €1,000 and €10,000.

Mobility chief Rafael González explained that these actions are part of a summer campaign to “enforce formentera.eco rules and municipal parking ordinances, whose ultimate aim is to reduce strain on local roads and car parks”. FDE will now proceed to processing the citations.

29 July 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Through collage, display at ‘Ajuntament Vell’ breathes new life into cabinet of curiosities

cartell 2021 gabinet de curiositatsThe Formentera Department of Culture is pleased to announce the opening, Monday 2 August, of Nancy-born and Eivissa-based Lila Licciardi’s “Gabinet de Curiositats”. True to the Dadaist tradition, the thirty analog “cut & paste” works of conceptual mixed media in Licciardi’s selection of collages at “Ajuntament Vell” make meaning of current issues by relying on concepts like chance and the absurd.

With the show’s fresh, collage-driven take on the cabinet of curiosities, Licciardi, like the collectors of the 18th century, leans in to the perpetual search for graphic archives and the need to create a cabinet of one’s very own. Diversiform objects, baroque colours, underlying humour and teeming antiques, electronic circuits and bits of old encyclopaedias populate a universe where the past meets the future and reflects on the challenges of our present.

“Gabinet de Curiositats” can be seen at the Ajuntament Vell exhibition space 2–14 August, Monday to Saturday from 11.00am to 2.00pm and 7.00pm to 9.00pm. The gallery is closed Sundays and Monday mornings. A 7.00pm opening has been scheduled for Monday 2 August.

29 July 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Study tracing impact of microbeads on posidonia wins SPP’s €112K call for proposals

cartell 2021 sppThe Formentera Department of Environment and Formentera Office of Tourism are pleased to announce that ImPeFora, a research initiative sponsored by the University of the Balearic Islands, has been named winner of Save Posidonia Project. In 2021, the SPP’s budget totals €112,000.

Apart from studying the impact of emerging pollutants not perceptible to the naked eye like microbeads from cosmetics and cleaning products, ImPeFora researchers will also  look at larger plastics which have already begun breaking down and certain components of sun creams.

Environment chief Antonio J. Sanz called the UIB-backed project “a forward step for work on posidonia”. “As the researchers themselves have pointed out”, continued Sanz, “these emerging pollutants can be more harmful once they’ve penetrated directly into cell membranes”. Last October local decision-makers voted to make it harder to sell and use sun creams that are harmful to the marine environment, and urged regional and state governments to support and draft regulations to ban manufacture and marketing of such products.

A total of eleven projects were received in response to the second SPP call for proposals. In its first year, SPP unlocked funding for proposals from the Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) and the Pine Islands Task Force for Nature-Balearic Ornithological Group and Defence of Nature (GEN-GOB).

A pioneering framework project in the Western Mediterranean, the Save Posidonia Project arose from the desire to promote sustainable tourism and fundraise specifically in support of Posidonia oceanica conservation.


29 July 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Formentera starts work on local plan for culture

foto 2021 pla de culturaFormentera’s heads of culture and heritage, Susana Labrador and Raquel Guasch, respectively, met earlier today with department staff and representatives of the International University of Catalonia (UIC) and adult learning centres of Menorca to prepare a local masterplan for culture. The initiative was baked into an agreement struck at a one-off full-house assembly, 6 October 2020, and focussed on the state of local affairs.

Councillor Labrador said she hoped the initial planning stage would drive “multilateral diagnosis of the current state of culture on Formentera and, from a place of shared responsibility, define strategic priorities and future avenues to promote culture locally”. “We want to take the temperature of culture on Formentera”, she said, “to set strategic lines for the future based on what we want to maintain and what we want to strengthen and prioritise”. Participants in this initial phase will develop specific objectives in support of each strategic priority, recommendations for targetted actions, and a list of stakeholders, associations and entities which could potentially be involved in each proposal.

Citizen participation
The Consell de Formentera will oversee preparation of the plan, with principal engineers including Jaume Gomila, president of Escoles d’Adults de Menorca; Sergi Sánchez, an expert in the field; Judith Urbano, the dean of UIC’s Faculty of Humanities; Marta Crispí, the director of the Master’s in Cultural Management, and Maria Morer, a researcher. The team spent a week surveying local cultural spaces and considering future facilities. During that time, they also sat down with and heard proposals from organisations and cultural insiders on the island.

The resulting plan will shape the future of cultural events on Formentera and create a pact for culture with the consensus of islanders, institutions, political groups with representation in municipal government and locally based cultural groups. It will also cement an organisational structure to guide implementation of the Culture Plan and its stewardship moving forward.

28 July 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

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