Caravan owners are worried about a new law which will make it illegal for caravans to take up space along the coast, and are unsure what the future holds for them.

Ċensu Camilleri, a 64-year-old pensioner, has lived in his caravan along the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq coast for the past two-and-a-half years. 

“Rain or shine I’ve always managed to get by here,” Camilleri told Times of Malta. 

“I take life day by day, but the problem is that if they order us to leave, I have nowhere to put my caravan and I can’t afford to rent a garage,” Camilleri said. 

The government plans to introduce new legal provisions that would make caravans illegal unless they are in designated sites.

Sources said the government had identified sites where caravans can be parked and was proposing an online booking system to rent the space for a maximum of one week, against payment. 

But Camilleri says the irregular caravan site he lives in “feels like a family”.  

“Especially over the weekend, people are cooking for each other, and we enjoy each other’s company on summer nights,” he said. 

“I don’t think we bother anyone here.” 

Times of Malta talked to five caravan and motorhome owners parked along the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq coast.

“We come here to spend our time, swim and bring our grandchildren, why shouldn’t we be able to enjoy it,” said Nathalie Camilleri who spends her summers in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq and winters in the countryside.

She admitted that shortage of parking is an issue but said that motorhome owners pay their road licence and have a right to park just like anyone.

Others made a similar argument. 

“We pay our road licence like everyone else, and we have nowhere to go,” said Spiridione Agius who was at his motorhome after a day at work.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen if they stop us from parking here,” Agius said.  He also claimed that caravan owners have improved the area.  “There were a lot of boulders, nails, glass and garbage here; we cleaned a lot of it,” he said. 

Standing alongside Agius, Philip Camilleri asked why the government allowed motorhomes and caravans to be imported if there was nowhere to put them. 

“I wouldn’t have let them (motorhomes and caravans) come if there was no future for them,” Camilleri said. 

Agius and Philip Camilleri both said they had learned about plans to make caravans in undesignated sites illegal through the media and said they had not been consulted. 

Matthew Calleja, 38, said that he was willing to discuss the issue with the government and was willing to pay for parking his caravan. 

“We are willing to pay to contribute to a project (that regulates the area),” he said. 

But Calleja said that he and other caravan owners do not have influence over politicians. 

“If they tell us to leave, we’ll have no choice,” Calleja said.

“We are not powerful people and these people who have power can do what they like,” he said.