A group of around 100 campers has lodged an injunction to save them from being evicted from Faro’s campsite, which is due to undergo renovations starting on October 1 in order to open it up to everyone by 2020.
The campers say that the council has been unwilling to help them leave and that some people are too sick or poor to find somewhere else to live. João Botelheiro, a lawyer representing the campers, says that the start of the works will be suspended if the injunction is accepted.
In a nutshell, the conflict started when the local council informed the campers last year that it would be ending its long-standing agreement with them, which had allowed them to live at the site since 2003 when it was closed down and run it like a closed condominium.
The council has since explained that there is “huge demand” for a local campsite and that the campers would either have to leave or pay the same fees as everyone else.
“We will only leave when there are conditions and solutions for the problems that we have exposed to the local council,” says Luís Arsénio, president of the campers’ association.
Says Arsénio, some people have lived at the campsite for over 25 years and are “sick and do not have the financial means to own a house or rent an apartment or room in the town”.
“For one year we have been trying to talk to the council, but the administration was not willing to speak to us about finding solutions for the serious problems which do not allow residents to leave,” he adds.
Faro Mayor Rogério Bacalhau has told TSF radio, however, that the council is willing to help the people leave, but that it won’t back down from taking back the campsite and opening it up to everyone.
“It is a public space. On October 1, we want to start the works. We will use the legal means at our disposal and take possession of what is there,” he said.
The council’s project, which represents a €450,000 investment, involves mostly renovations to the campsite’s existing infrastructures.
The plan is to clean and reorganise the campsite, renovate the electric and water networks and create green spaces.
Once completed, the park will boast 200 tent spaces, 84 of them for large tents, as well as 24 spaces for motorhomes, which is expected to help bolster the local economy during winter.
