A construction site in the wetland area of ses Feixes is ses Feixes wetland is is in the crosshairs of the Nature Protection Service of the Guardia Civil (Seprona). Following the agents’ complaint, the Ibiza Town Hall has opened a file for non-compliance with the urban planning license.
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The controversial work is being carried out on a plot located in ses Feixes street No. 34 and has two licenses: one for therehabilitation of a single-family house and outbuildings by the City Council of Ibiza and another for the recovery of cultivation of the Ministry of Environment of the Balearic Government.
According to the sign indicating the type of work, placed as required by the regulations on the facade of the site, the work began on September 1 last year, with a term of 36 months, whose promoters are Francisco Álvarez Marín and José Luis Rodríguez Vicente .
Two open fronts
According to what has been learned La Voz de Ibizathe owners have two open fronts against them: on the one hand, a complaint for urban infraction for having exceeded the conditions established in the municipal authorization; and, on the other hand, a complaint from the Seprona for the earthworks and dumping.
The City Council has confirmed to this media that “there is an open file” for non-compliance with the license granted for exceeding the established volumes.
The Seprona is currently investigating the case which will determine the amount of the penalties.
For this reason, they have requested information from the City Council on the legality of the constructions. Another point of analysis is the earthworks and landfills.
Ses Feixes is protected rural land of special interest and is regulated by a special plan, which aggravates the infractions investigated by both the Guardia Civil and the City Council.
“Architectural collaboration”
The architectural firm that carried out the project, Feeling Architecture, has given details of the project on its website about the “house is located in the Feixes de Talamanca, a landscape protected by the Heritage of the Consell Insular de Ibiza”.
According to them, “the project was initially commissioned by three developers who decided to join forces to acquire the house, with the idea of sharing it among their respective families under a model of shared cohabitation. Currently, two of them continue with the project, keeping alive the spirit with which it was born”.
“Because of the heritage value of the environment, the intervention has required special sensitivity. The involvement of the archaeologist María José Escandell – known to everyone as Pepa – has been fundamental, and her supervision has guaranteed respect for the historical and cultural values of the site,” they say.
Prohibited fillers
In ses Feixes, the Special Plan for the Conservation, Protection and Recovery of Prat de ses Monges establishes a particularly restrictive regulation on the dumping of soil, to the point that this type of action is not allowed as an ordinary practice within its scope.
The regulations consider that the dumping of earth, debris or any material that is not part of the traditional system of this area directly alters the topography, the water regime and the ethnological and environmental values that the plan aims to preserve.
For that reason, landfills and earth contributions are prohibited when they imply a modification of the natural elevations of the land or affect characteristic elements of ses Feixes, such as canals, irrigation ditches, dry stone walls or the historical parcelization of the wetland.
The plan classifies these activities as incompatible with the conservation of the area, which means that they cannot be authorized by means of ordinary urban planning licenses or regularized a posteriori.
In practice, the dumping of soil for purposes such as leveling plots, “improving” the land or clearing it, even when it is topsoil, is not allowed.
Only exceptionally could land contributions linked to environmental restoration or heritage recovery projects expressly approved by the competent administration be authorized.
In these cases, the actions must be fully justified, use compatible materials, not alter the existing elevations or the traditional hydraulic system and have express authorization, without the possibility of administrative silence.
Failure to comply with these determinations can have significant consequences. The dumping of soil in ses Feixes is usually classified as urban and environmental infractions, with the corresponding opening of sanctioning proceedings and the obligation to restore the land to its original state, as well as possible additional responsibilities if there is an affection to the ethnological heritage or the public hydraulic domain.
More protection for ses Feixes?
Last October, the Consell de Ibiza, together with the town councils of Vila and Santa Eulària, and environmental organizations, agreed to promote the incorporation of the ses Feixes de Talamanca wetland into the Natura 2000 network. incorporation of the wetland of ses Feixes de Talamanca to the Natura 2000 Network..
The agreement was reached within the framework of the fourth Mesa de Participación for the recovery of this area, a body that brings together public administrations, social groups and environmental organizations.
Precisely, during that meeting the need to advance in the restoration of ses Feixes was raised as a key tool to reduce the risk of flooding in the area and to address historical problems related to the management of sewage and urban infractions accumulated in the environment.
As reported by the insular institution at the time, the initiative aims to ensure the effective protection and ecological restoration of ses Feixes, considered an ecosystem of high environmental value for the functions it performs.
The proposal received the unanimous support of the participants after the presentation of a report prepared jointly by the Water Alliance and the City Council of Santa Eulària, which highlights the ecological values of the wetland, both for the diversity of wildlife that houses the relevance of their habitats.
The possible inclusion of ses Feixes in the Natura 2000 Network would also allow access to protection instruments and European funding to advance in its recovery, in line with EU directives that require member states to restore degraded ecosystems.
In this context, the Participation Committee agreed to formally transfer the request to the Balearic Government, which is the competent administration to process and officially declare this figure of protection.
During the meeting, the conservationist organizations also raised the convenience of extending the scope of protection to the marine area of Talamanca Bay, with the objective of applying integrated conservation measures that take into account both the terrestrial and marine environments.
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