Caravan owners who were ordered to leave Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq by today are signing a petition requesting the authorities to provide them with an alternative site.
The decision to sign the petition was taken yesterday evening during a meeting called on site by the Safari Camping Club after the Government Property Division (GPD) served over 100 caravan owners with a notice giving them 48 hours to remove their mobile homes from Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.
The GPD told the caravan owners they are not entitled to stay on the land they were occupying as it is not designated as a caravan site and they do not hold the necessary permits.
Safari Club secretary Athilio Montebello said the caravan owners were disappointed at the manner in which they had been slapped with the notices and given such a short deadline to leave.
The club frequently corresponded with the authorities so it was disappointing that there had been no advance warning about the action that came "like a bolt out of the blue".
The club will be meeting the Parliamentary Secretary for Lands, Jason Azzopardi this month, he said, adding that yesterday the club sent an email to the Prime Minister asking him to clarify the situation and explain why the decision had been so sudden.
Mr Montebello explained that caravan owners had been going to the area in question for the past 20 years or so. Previous governments had started processes to convert the area into an official caravan site but plans were not finalised.
Mr Montebello said that according to the club statute, its members were to have mobile caravans equipped with the necessary facilities. Unfortunately, he agreed, there had been a lot of abuse in the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq area, with people building permanent structures such as rubble walls and tiling the areas in front of their caravan. This cast a bad light on all campers, Mr Montebello said, condemning such illegal actions and adding that the club could not control such abuses as it had no authority to do so.
As the caravan owners gathered for the meeting many voiced their anger at the sudden enforcement action. Some pointed out the electricity sub station and toilets and showers built by the government for the campers adding that this could not lead them to suspect they were there illegally.
Clearly upset by the notices, attached on each caravan, owners stressed that this was their only pastime. One woman, a pensioner, said she did not afford renting an apartment in summer and her caravan was her only source of recreation.
A spokesman for the GPD insisted that the area is not a caravan site, adding that a stop and enforcement notice had already been issued by the planning authority as none of the structures on the site has the required permits.
"With this enforcement notice, the government is giving back to the public yet another area. It is the government's policy to render back to the public what is theirs by right," the spokesman said.