Plans have been filed to build a caravan park, complete with pool, snack bar and gated entrance in St Thomas Bay, Marsascala.

The development application caters for a park with a number of facilities. The project report said it will be carried out in such a way that all interventions are reversible and with the least environmental impact.

The report, which forms part of the development application, said the site was just bare land in the heart of St Thomas Bay, covering around 5,700 square metres.

The application is to build an area for nine caravans or mobile homes, a pool which is above ground, an informal play area, parking, storage, a snack bar and a cesspit. Made up of “only random vegetation and located a few metres away from the sea”, the site has rubble walls and a “few random buildings”, referring to the nearby boathouses.

Caravans are parked illegally during summer in front of the site along the coast, according to the application report.

The “few structures”, including the pool, will be pre-fabricated and brought over ready to be used. These structures will only require a system of timber pillars driven into the ground, ensuring minimum disruption to the existing ground.

The land was arid and too close to the sea to be used for agricultural purposes but its close proximity to the shore and the neighbouring boathouses make it ideal for a caravan park, the report says, admitting the areas around the site were already illegally used for caravans.

“Even though this does not justify the use of the land in question, it proves the demand for such an activity in the area,” it said.

Even though the planning authority’s action plan would not consider any new development in the area, the project was still in line with its objectives.

The plans have been unveiled days after the court ruled that caravans erected at Little Armier bay were illegal.