Escalating parking problems could soon cause long-term damage to Malta’s beaches if enforcement is not stepped up, environmentalist Alan Deidun told this newspaper. While beachgoers have been flocking to the beaches in large numbers, parking facilities have remained limited, providing for only a handful of cars.
As a result, they have resorted to parking their vehicles on garigue land, clay soil and at times directly on the sandy beach, sparking concern among environmentalists. “This is not an isolated issue that has just started happening now but it’s been going on for some time and now it seems to be getting out of hand,” Prof. Deidun said.
According to the marine biologist, drivers are parking on garigue land at Paradise Bay, on the rocky shore and sandy dunes at Little Armier and in fields with clayey soil at Għajn Tuffieħa.
Prof. Deidun added that the issue was so out of hand that drivers have now also started parking directly on the sandy beach at Ġnejna. “When cars are parked on the beach, irreversible damage is caused.
The tyres not only destroy any life there but may lead to erosion,” Prof. Deidun said, adding that at Paradise Bay, bushes of thyme were constantly being destroyed as a result of reckless parking. While calling for drivers to be more sensitive to their surroundings, Prof. Deidun insisted that longterm solutions were needed, especially as the number of people at beaches increases.
He suggested one of two options: either enlarging parking lots without destroying any natural areas or having a digital counter to better regulate the number of cars.
“Public transport to these areas also needs to be improved, so that people will be more inclined to make use of buses rather than their own private vehicles,” Prof. Deidun said. The environmentalist added that he had called wardens and police on more than one occasion, yet the problem persists.
“Cars only get fined when parking on double yellow lines,” he said. Questions sent to the Environment Ministry were been answered by the time of writing.