Who owns the beaches?

Last Sunday I wrote that "in view of the seasonal nature of this issue, and since we are approaching the end of the season, we will make an exception by accepting e-mails on this hot issue so that we can share such incidents next Sunday." Here follows an e-mail I received:

I have read with great interest Mr Victor Farrugia's letter; from it one can deduce that this problem has become a chronic one and has been tolerated far too long. Unless all beachgoers take a stand on this matter, things will get worse until it will be too late to go back. Or is it too late already? What I find very strange is that no beach concession owner or anyone from the authorities has had the decency to reply to our complaints.

After I read your comments to my letter, I approached one of the owners of the beach concession and his reply left me surprised, to say the least. He told me that they have a licence to run the business with an encroachment permit that allows them to place all the beach furniture at will.

It seems that the authorities do not want to take any stand on this matter because all they have to do is to go down to any beach, not only Ghadira, and find out that by 8.30 a.m. the beaches are all taken up and no space at all is left for us.

Another point is safety. These beach concessions have placed concrete umbrella bases on the beach that are left there till the end of summer. These are not visible at night when there are no lights. Should anyone injure himself with these bases, who would be responsible?

Summer is on its way out, but it seems that from an article in The Times this week, the MTA is taking a stand on all the pavement cafes that are not licensed to occupy pavements. Shouldn't the powers that be look into this matter without delay? At least by acting now and making sure that all beach concession owners abide by the rules until the end of summer maybe next summer would be a different story.

I trust that anyone reading this will realise that we need to do something before they take over our beaches. It is true that everyone has the right to earn a living, but please give us some breathing space. (Piero Selvaggi)

Like Mr Selvaggi I find it strange that "no beach concession owner or anyone from the authorities has had the dignity to reply to our complaints".

In view of the opening comment of this article, last Wednesday I sent a printout of Mr Selvaggi's e-mail to Inspector Piju Pisani (Mellieha police station) and Inspector Joe Mercieca (Mgarr police station) for their comments on the issue with a particular focus on what action the police intend to take.

Hopefully we will be able to include their comments next week. We need at least some assurance that something is being, or perhaps about to be, done.