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Formentera Council aims to purchase Sa Senieta plot and home with help from sustainable tourism fund

Foto sa senieta1This morning, the president, vice-president/patrimony secretary and adjunct vice-president/tourism secretary of the Formentera Council unveiled the administration's proposed request for financing under an annual plan to promote sustainable tourism. At 11.30am, the three officials—Jaume Ferrer, Susana Labrador and Alejandra Ferrer—held the presentation at Sa Senieta, a property located on carrer Pla de Rei in Sant Francesc.

The Council hopes to purchase Sa Senieta, a traditional country home, using funds obtained from the so-called “sustainable tourism tax”. The acquisition would play to the first goal of an annual plan to promote sustainable tourism: “purchasing and rehabilitating sites which are either emblematic or of significant value to the environment or local culture”. As the officials noted, the move would be particularly timely given that 2018 has been designated European Year of Cultural Heritage.

Rationale
Sa Senieta's unique historical value, singular qualities and strategic location in the heart of Sant Francesc Xavier make its purchase and restoration an appealing venture. The administration is looking into turning the building into a public space suitable to its particular level of protection.

Sa Senieta's owners recently contacted the Council and indicated that, despite a listing price of €3 million (m), a reduced figure—€2.5m—would be available to the administration. With an expected €1m to come from tax revenue, the Council would pay for the remaining €1.5m with its own money, or seek funding elsewhere.

Managing the heritage site
The acquisition would meet the demands of Formentera's 2017-2019 plan for administering cultural patrimony. Under that regime, which covers the restoration, conservation and acquisition of properties, priority is given to “sites with the highest patrimonial protections and those in the most advanced state of disrepair”.

Value as heritage site
Sa Senieta is the only site on the island designated historical patrimony under Balearic Islands' law 12/1998, of December 21, clearly marking it as an area of particular cultural interest. First included in the catalogue in 2002, the property possesses AT-C-150 distinction and level B protection in Formentera's catalogue of cultural heritage sites.

According to the catalogue, the site comprises “two buildings; one main dwelling (dels senyors) and another dwelling intended for the farm's keepers (dels majorals)”. The main dwelling is composed of both upper and lower stories; the dwelling for the farm's keepers consists of one storey alone. The main dwelling possesses a porch area that measures a considerable height, so much so that it is nearly flush with the ceiling of the rooms on the upper-level. One difference, according to the catalogue, “is that the rooftop of the upper-level rooms is tiled, while the porch rooftop is flat.” The catalogue describes the layout thus: “One room is located at the rear of the porch, with another sitting at the front. The latter juts out forming a right angle. To the left of the porch there is a long, low room with a door leading outside, as is common in cellars. One of the dwellings is situated overhead; another is atop the rear lower room. To the right of the porch is a door which provides access to the kitchen.” (Cardona-Escandell, 2000:76)

Unique qualities
Sa Senieta presents a unique example of traditional local architecture for a number of reasons. First, it comprises two dwellings, each reasonably large, with layouts that are more complex than what is customarily found on Formentera. Second, it is reasonably well conserved and has not been modified subsequently. Hence, the building's original characteristics, materials and finishes are unchanged. Third, current historical assessments of the building and the plot it occupies situate construction in the eighteenth century.

Es Pujols works projects
Last year, with revenues from the sustainable tourism tax, a comprehensive renovation was conducted of public services in Es Pujols. Those works included sanitation (rain water and sewage), water supply (fire hydrants and street cleaning), burial of overhead utility cables (lighting and telecom) and a repaving of the town's waterfront promenade.

The upgrades cost €2.4m, of which 20% was paid for by the sustainable tourism tax. The remaining sum was covered by the Formentera Council.

Upgrades at social welfare offices and local police station

Foto millores edifici policia localThe Formentera Council's Office of Infrastructure wishes to announce the completion of upgrades to the facade and roof of the building that houses the Office of Social Welfare and Formentera local police.

Crews cleaned and repaired cracks in the building's surface before painting it. They also cleaned a portion of the walkable roof, installed waterproofed tiles, fixed leaks in the building and switched out portions of the tile roof that had fallen into disrepair.

The Council brought in an outside contractor to oversee the work, which was valued at €27,680.40, VAT included.

Water and environment agency hands over parcel to Formentera Council

Foto sa tanca dalla dins1The Formentera Council and the governing body of regional agency for water and environment, Abaqua, have signed off on a plan to give the Council use rights of a swath of land known alternately as sa tanca d'Allà Dins and Ca'n Pep Lluqui des Cap de Barbaria.

The Council requested use of the land as part of an effort to reduce summertime crowds and traffic jams, a situation that had prompted both environmental impact and issues affecting safety and public order.

The administration has pledged to develop measures to safeguard the area's environmental, landscape, heritage and tourism resources. The first such protections—defining a parking area and restricting vehicle access to the cape, for example—have already been introduced.

In 2005, Abaqua purchased the 318-hectare plot for €2.9 million to preserve the natural surroundings by focusing on protections for the land's quality and uniqueness. At present the agency neither conducts maintenance on the land nor enlists employees to otherwise make use of it.

With eyes on future sustainable mobility plan, preliminary studies begin

Foto enquesta portThe Formentera Council's Office of Mobility has announced that from tomorrow to August 15 crews will conduct fieldwork across Formentera's network of roads. According to department head Rafael González, a team of five workers and one coordinator will be enlisted to tally pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, scooter and bus riders, giving the administration a clearer picture of how (and how many) individuals are moving round the island.

Trends observed in the data will be used to help draft Formentera's Pla de Mobilitat Sostenible, a “sustainable mobility plan” the administration hopes will be ready in six months. González explained that the document would be geared towards promoting sustainable mobility and serve as the groundwork for the future of mobility on the island.

Work on the ground
The first fortnight in August was chosen to complete the work, as that is when traffic on local roads is heaviest. Surveyors, who will additionally note the particular form of transport used by individuals, will rely on physical counts as well as on roadside sensors.

Tallies will include pedestrians and cyclists on the island's network of nature trails, riders of public transport and taxis and vehicle passage through intersections, routes of heavy transit and car parks.

Day trippers
Over three days, two workers will be stationed in the port to count the number of day visitors to Formentera. For that task, they will also administer a questionnaire to get a sense of respondents' intended transport and expenses.

Another census, this time during the first two weeks of October and designed for bus riders, will aim to provide an idea of the number of people using public transport during the low season.

The work is expected to cost a total of €17,182, VAT included.

Tourist and resident surveys
Tourists and islanders are being asked to complete surveys to provide a look at some of the typical journeys taken on the island and the transport that is customarily used. Four hundred phone interviews were conducted among Formentera residents in June. From 29 July to 3 August another 400 in-person interviews will take place at the port.

The results of the second part of the undertaking, which has an estimated cost of €19,904, will also be used in drafting the Sustainable Mobility Plan.

Formentera kids see day in the life of island's lifeguards

Escola de socorrisme 2 2017The Formentera Council's lifeguard service has opened its escola de socorristes, or “lifeguard school,” to children in summer schools and sports camps on the island. The goal, said service chief Marco Antonio Lage, is to give Formentera's youngsters a glimpse of the lifeguard profession and important water-risk prevention tools. “Prevention,” explained Lage, “can be as simple as understanding that the red flag means don't swim”.

Last Friday the escola took its first group to spend a day at Es Cavall den Borràs beach. Lifeguard staff explained a typical day's work and went into subjects like rescue material and how to use it, the meaning of the different coloured flags and tips to remember on arrival (protection against sunburn). The lifeguards-in-training also heard about the importance of Posidonia oceanica seagrass in local waters and took part in a hands-on demo.

The escola will reopen for classes on two Fridays, August 11 and 25.

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