Alcudia Council News

The council of Alcúdia is to “recommend” non-smoking beaches and coves, but does not prohibit smoking outright. The plenary session also rejected the socialist proposal to paint the red bridge of the port green in tribute to the ‘alcudiencs’ who fight against cancer.

The plenary session held last week in Alcúdia partially approved a motion presented by the socialist group that demanded the declaration of all the coves and beaches of the municipality as smoke-free spaces and that in a first version called for “banning” tobacco and vaping devices. However, both the government team (PP, Vox and UxA) and the rest of the opposition groups requested a modification of the text so that the prohibition would be transformed into a “recommendation” which would get the proposal a sufficient majority.

Finally, the four points of the motion were voted on separately and three of them obtained unanimity from all parties. Thus, all the beaches and coves of the municipality are declared as smoke-free spaces in which it is recommended not to smoke but it is not prohibited. In addition, the necessary requirements will be put in place to join the Government’s ‘Platges sense fum’ program and these agreements will be notified to the Ministry of Health, the Spanish Association against Cancer of the Balearic Islands and the rest of the political groups of the Balearic Parliament.

The PSOE motion included a third point in which it was proposed to paint the red bridge on Alcúdia beach green “in tribute and memory of all the ‘alcudiencs’ and ‘alcudienques’ who work in the prevention and fight against cancer.” ».

This point was not approved when the other parties considered that this bridge, which passes over the canals that connect the sea with the Estany Gran, is characterized by its red colour. “Public structures cannot be monopolized by any private entity,” said Unides Podem councilor Maria Ramos in this regard. “This bridge is red, the usual emblematic color,” said Mayor Fina Linares (PP), in favor of smoke-free spaces being a “recommendation” and not a prohibition. His Vox partners expressed the same thing: “Here we propose, we do not impose.” In addition, they added that “there are other priorities than going to paint a bridge.” Domingo Bonnín, from El Pi, recalled that “the City Council is not competent to prohibit smoking on the beaches.”

The Alcúdia plenary session rejected, without practically any intervention from the government team, so there was hardly any debate, a battery of motions presented by Unides Podem in favor of a sustainable tourism model that proposed controlling vacation rentals, protecting the territory, limiting car rental, regulating ‘all inclusive’, among other options.