News

Formentera unlocks €16k in funding for elderly and disabled

Tuesday, 31 July 2018 15:56

foto majors The Formentera Council’s social welfare department is announcing details today of the administration’s €16-thousand funding package for seniors and islanders with disabilities.

To be considered for the assistance, applicants must reside on Formentera and be at least sixty-five or have a minimum of 33% impairment. Other qualifying conditions exist as well; individuals with disabilities who receive live-in care outside Formentera can apply, too, provided other family members maintain residence on the island.

Further details can be obtained by contacting the social welfare department directly. Applications will be accepted until Saturday, August 25, at the Citizen’s Information Office (OAC), 6, carrer de Ramon Llull in Sant Francesc.

A review committee will be enlisted to determine this year’s recipients. In 2017, fourteen aspiring candidates were awarded assistance totalling €12,000.

Formentera Council equips island with 12 changing stations

Monday, 30 July 2018 15:04

foto canviador 2 The Formentera Council announces the successful installation of a dozen baby changing stations across the island. When possible, the fittings were installed in spaces open to both women and men, part of an effort to promote a gender-balanced approach to childcare.

Infrastructure secretary Rafael González called it “an improvement on the services offered at a range of Council facilities” and an arrangement intended for “mothers and fathers alike”. “Changing nappies is a task both parents must take responsibility for”, González stressed.

A changing station can be found in the unisex toilets near the conference hall of the island's dependent care centre, in the accessible toilets of the Antoni Blanc fitness centre cafeteria and the IES Marc Ferrer sports facilities, the gender-neutral toilets at the department of culture, and the accessible toilets of the Casal d'Entitats, the Centre “Gabrielet” and the Sant Ferran centre for the aged. Still others have been installed in the toilets at the cinema, at the island's youth drop-in centre (Casal de Joves) and at la Mola's Casa del Poble community centre. They can also be found in the Sant Francesc library; one in the women's toilets and a second in the men's.

Posidonia figure on nautical maps of Formentera

Thursday, 26 July 2018 16:05

daisee-aguilera--miquel-mir--i1 The environment office of the Formentera Council reports that nautical maps put out by the Cádiz-based Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina and featuring information about the island's neighbouring posidonia meadows are now available for purchase in paper and digital formats.

The measure will enable ship capitans to spot meadows and steer clear of them when anchoring. Environment secretary Daisee Aguilera hailed the news, saying “knowing where the sea grass meadows are is crucial to protecting them” and applauding the collaboration between the Formentera Council, the Govern balear and IHM.

While not the sole factor pertinent to explaining recession of the sea grass, boats dropping anchor on meadows is one the causes. Posidonia is a deciduous underwater plant responsible for the clearness of Formentera's waters, which Aguilera cited when asserting the new maps were “groundbreaking for Formentera and for the Mediterranean as a whole”.

April start
A tool to help highlight the presence of posidonia, the acronym “SG” for “sea grass” has incorporated the nomenclature since April, marking the first time an underwater plant is included on nautical maps. The new term makes it possible to differentiate between the plant and seaweed (unlike the former, the latter has previously figured on similar maps).

For reference in the initiative, IHM used maps from Project Life Posidonia as well as eco-mapping from MAPAMA, which contained information about posidonia meadows across the Balearics.

Formentera vets mobility and waste management schemes

Friday, 27 July 2018 16:31

foto ple juliol 2018 1 Attendees of the Formentera Council's monthly plenary session voted to grant preliminary approval to the island's Pla de Mobilitat Sostenible, a sustainable mobility strategy introduced Wednesday, July 4, at a meeting of the local league of community representatives. The session also ended in support for draft guidelines on how non-hazardous waste is collected and managed locally. The two proposals were passed with “yes” votes from senior Gent x Formentera cabinet secretaries. PP, PSOE and Compromís party members, for their part, abstained.

Mobility secretary Rafael González highlighted the crucial nature of the mobility plan, saying “[the Pla de Mobilitat] is about getting motorists to share the road with users of other more sustainable modes of transport”. “The idea isn't that people be less mobile”, González clarified, “but walking, cycling or using public transport whenever possible”.

Environment secretary Daisee Aguilera applauded her counterparts' support of the preliminary waste management plan, calling it “a chance to define goals like prevention and reduced waste generation—both key elements to an improved approach to management”.

The fundamentals of the two plans can be consulted on the Formentera Council's transparency portal, which is also where the terms will be published once the complete details are posted to the Balearic Islands official gazette.

Other proposals
The initial votes on the two plans occupied a particularly significant place in the July plenary, which was held in the conference hall of the island's dependant care centre. Other measures got backing as well. The Council's senior secretaries scored across the board support for a proposal to join a regional pact for children (Pacte Balear per la Infància). Meanwhile, a GxF measure to request human resources and materials for the island's health centre and hospital got “yes” votes from GxF, PP and Compromís. PSOE party reps opted to abstain.

The PP earned cross-party support for a proposal to remodel sa Casilla.

The PSOE won unanimous backing for its proposal on Formentera's judicial district.

Formentera turns over sa Senieta keys to Govern as island prepares for museum

Tuesday, 24 July 2018 16:55

visita-sa-senieta As part of the bid to restore the local building known as “sa Senieta” and equip it to house the island's future museum, the Formentera Council reports that administration officials will use this Friday's plenary session to introduce a plan to grant sa Senieta use rights to the Govern balear.

Once approval for the plan is secured, President Jaume Ferrer and Fanny Tur, the minister of culture, participation and sport in the Balearics, will put their signatures on a bilateral pact by which the Council, sa Senieta's owner, grants the ministry under Tur's charge full rights to use the building at no cost. In turn, the regional ministry pledges to restore and upgrade sa Senieta to equip it as an exhibition space and Formentera's future museum.

The handoff, which enters into force with the agreement's signing, will remain effective until December 31, 2033 and may be extended an additional five years after that. Once the handoff is complete, upgrades and maintenance work will begin under the watch of the Govern balear's Conselleria de Cultura, Participació i Esports.

All costs associated with the project —honoraria, taxes, charges, levies, et cetera— will be paid for by the regional government. Likewise, the Council, which will retain ownership of sa Senieta, must give its say-so before any work on the building can take place.

Future museum network
In accordance with the provisions of legislation passed December 21, 1998, sa Senieta is the only local construction included in Formentera's catalogue of Balearic historical heritage sites—a clear sign of the building's importance to cultural heritage on the island.

In addition to sa Senieta, which will accommodate the Formentera museum's permanent collection and other general services for the public, the island's future network of museums will include two other spaces: La casa de Can Ramon, home to the island's ethnographical collection, and the plot adjacent to Sant Francesc's historical cemetery (the "Fossar Vell"), which will be equipped to hold archives, a specialised library, conference hall, exhibition space, materials drop-off and reservation point and research lab.

The plan is part of Formentera's bid to create a premier “museum circuit” for islanders and visiting tourists that is in line with the Balearic Islands' so-called “Museum Law”.