Majorca introduces 'cap' on sunbeds, sun loungers and parasols for UK tourists

Palma City Council is drawing up rules for sunloungers, with less space planned for sunbeds and parasols due to sand erosion in the holiday destination.

Majorca is in chaos as locals are up in arms in a latest beach war. The European Union holiday hotspot's Palma City Council is drawing up rules for sunloungers, with less space planned for sunbeds and parasols due to sand erosion in the holiday destination.

Deputy mayor and spokesperson for the council, Mercedes Celeste, spoke out about complaints from residents of Cala Major about sunbed’s taking over the beaches in the area. Local residents have blamed ‘sunbed overcrowding’ and “greater occupation”.

They say that the concessions have been “out of date for years” and now the local corporation’s government team is working to update them because on Palma’s beaches “there is less sand” than 20 years ago, which is why there is this feeling of “over-occupation”.

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“The Town Hall is working against the clock to solve this problem, but there is no alternative to having fewer sunshades and sun loungers, given that these concessions have to be able to coexist on the beaches with the people who don’t use them, and they have to be able to move around," they said.

About 78 percent of Cala Major beach in Majorca is now taken up by pricey sunloungers, parasols, beach bars, showers, storage and lifeguard stations, according to calculations from the Sant Agustí and Cala Major Neighbours Association.

Residents have had serious problems trying to find space this summer, with just 22 percent of the beach left where they can place their towels for free. Following complaints from the residents of Cala Major, the council’s technicians went to check that all the beaches were complying with the terms and conditions of the concessions.

She complained that “all the concessions” are “expired” and Palma currently has a coastline that is “totally different to what it was 30 or 10 years ago." "These expired concessions, which have had to be extended to provide service to beach users, do not correspond to the needs of the beach because of the current coastline,” she said.

"The City Council has the obligation to make the beaches accessible to everyone and this is also one of the objectives,” she said.