The Vila Real de Santo António Chamber defends the maintenance of the beach organization model adopted in recent years, considering that this has contributed to the safety, orderliness and good functioning of the municipality’s bathing areas.
“The position brought together the consensus of all political forces represented in the City Council (PS, PSD and Chega), who consider that the model followed on the municipality’s beaches has contributed to ensuring an organized, safe and balanced use of the sand”, says the municipality, in a statement.
The city hall’s position comes after, on Monday, the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) classified as “abuse” the prevention of the placement of umbrellas in front of shaded areas managed by beach concessionaires.
When defending the “maintenance of the organization that has been adopted on the municipality’s beaches in recent years”, he emphasizes that the current model has been framed in “procedures, notices and signage” from the competent authorities and has guaranteed “the proper functioning of the bathing areas and a harmonious coexistence between the different beach users”.
Municipality defends role of concessionaires
“The position taken follows recent interpretations made public regarding the possibility of placing parasols and other beach equipment in front of bathing concessions, an issue that has generated concern among concessionaires in bathing areas”, adds the municipality.
The city hall also highlights the importance of concessionaires for beach safety, remembering that, in addition to the services they provide, they are responsible for monitoring and assisting bathers, guaranteeing the conservation of equipment supporting bathing activities and contributing to the cleaning and preservation of the sand.
“For the municipality, the work carried out by the concessionaires constitutes an important complement to the efforts of public entities in managing bathing areas and has been decisive for the quality of the experience provided to residents and visitors”, he highlights.
APA talks about “abuse” and promises clarification
The municipality also indicates that it has already requested clarification on this topic from the competent authorities, to ensure “stability, predictability and uniform rules for all stakeholders”, and has forwarded its position to the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) and the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL).
On Monday, the president of APA, José Pimenta Machado, said that the requirement not to place parasols in front of beach concessions is an “abuse”, guaranteeing that a clarification note would be released this week.
“The only area that is encumbered and that is concessioned is the one that is delimited by that rectangle and nothing else, let’s be clear, everything else is free to use”, stated José Pimenta Machado, during a visit by the Minister of the Environment to Praia do Garrão, in Loulé, in the district of Faro.
When asked by journalists whether the signage that indicates to bathers the areas where they can place parasols, and which excludes the sand in front of the concessions, will be removed, the president of the APA responded affirmatively and assured that the situation would be reviewed.
“Yes, it is abuse, there is no doubt about that”, he reinforced, noting that this situation occurs almost exclusively on the beaches of the Algarve.
The president of the APA also said that, by the end of the week, in time for the official start of the bathing season in most municipalities, on June 1st, the APA would publish a note to standardize the interpretation of the rules among municipalities, concessionaires and the Maritime Authority.
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