Inspections of beaches and beach concessions in the Algarve will continue until the end of August , with results presented during the first or second week of September, Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has announced.
APA has only just finished similar inspections in the Grândola area (between Tróia and Melides), where many beaches were being found ‘closed off to the general public’ by ‘5-star’ resorts and luxury developments.
That kind of scenario is not so obvious in the Algarve – but what can be is a dearth of public conveniences. Toilets/showers etc. can be ‘reserved for the use of clients of restaurants/cafés’, which is not entirely legal.
“It is a normal inspection,” environment and energy minister Maria da Graça Carvalho has stressed. And it will start in the Sotavento (eastern Algarve), taking in the beaches of Monte Gordo, Praia Verde, etc.
The minister added that, in the case of the Algarve, complaints are mainly related to “access conditions” to toilets and changing rooms.
“Obviously, the Algarve is not the same size (as the Grândola coast), but we have some situations that concern us and that have already been identified,” APA president Pimenta Machado reveals.
These situations will be given “particular attention”.
According to Pimenta Machado, it is necessary to ensure that access to changing rooms and toilets is “always outside (a given establishment) so that people feel (and are) free to use” these facilities.
Source: LUSA
