The government must stop giving away precious space on beaches for operators to fill up with deck chairs, ADPD leader Sandra Gauci said on Sunday.
Gauci was speaking at a protest at Buġibba's Perched Beach, where St Paul's Bay residents and NGOs Flimkien għa lAmbjent Aħjar and Moviment Graffitti occupied the small free patch of sand typically taken up by the tables and chairs of a nearby beach club.
Struggling to be heard against music blaring from the club, the leader of Malta's green party said the situation on the beach was emblematic of a problem affecting most beaches across Malta and Gozo.
She said that with the blessing of a permit, beach club operators had been given free reign to occupy every inch of the beach and pollute the area with unending noise and loud music.
“Why should we have to pay to come down to swim and enjoy our beaches,“ she said.
“I am not ready to put up with this noise when I want to enjoy the beach in peace just because someone has a permit. We resident came to live here to enjoy the sea not to be plagued by rats and mountains of garbage.”
Gauci said that by continuing to approve permits for deck chairs and tables and chairs, the government was harming people’s quality of life.
She encouraged the public to speak up and fight back against the encroachment of businesses onto beaches, warning if they did not, the situation would only get worse.
“We have to fight for every centimeter, and the centimeters you don’t fight for today you will lose next summer,” she said.
Residents were joined by members of NGOs Flimkien għa lAmbjent Aħjar and Moviment Graffitti. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.“In the meantime look around you and you can see that work is ongoing,” she continued, pointing to a nearby beachside construction site.
”Before you know it they’ll have taken everything and we will be left with nowhere but our baths at home to swim in.”
Gauci said citizens must demand enforcement and not simply accept the presence of deck chairs, saying they should only be put out if someone asks for them.
She also called for more enforcement to curb the public drunkenness and lawless behavior that springs up in the areas surrounding these establishments.
Perched Beach, initially approved in 2006 as a sandy retreat for tourists, has seen increasing encroachment by private enterprises.
And recently, the Planning Authority approved temporary beach furniture and a mobile bar at the popular bathing location.
Meanwhile, proposals to build kiosks, restaurants, and pool decks along the Bugibba promenade have been criticised heavily by residents who fear even further loss of access to the beach.
Complaints about the way St Paul's Bay has been treated by businesses have been ongoing, with protesting residents last year saying their hometown had been turned into a “pigsty”.
Speaking at that event, Gauci said residents were "tired of being victims of those who only see St Paul’s Bay as a place to make money and completely forgetting residents".