One of the Algarve’s best loved family beaches has been cut off to drivers wishing to use the car park down by the beach restaurant.
In a report in Sul Informaçao today, the chaos caused by the landowner is somewhat mitigated by his involvement in a 20 year court case with the council - a case that was set to carry on for decades unless action was taken to highlight the situation and get some action.
The road down to the beach is famous for the derelict, half-finished tourist development that has scarred the landscape for three decades.
The ‘accessible’ Blue Flag beach is now only accessible after parking and walking around 500 metres.
Access to the car park is impeded by two large stone blocks and a fence where a sign is posted which reads, "Private Land - covered under Article 1356 of the Civil Code."
Article 1356 reads that a land owner can “at any time fence his land.”
The council's lawyers have scrabbled into action and the mayor said to a Sul Informaçao reporter today that that "the Legal Department is reviewing the situation and is still to give me an answer so that we can plan accordingly."
This landowner, described only as a businessman from Portimão, and the Municipality of Lagoa have been at loggerheads over planning permission for decades and the dispute is "still in court" according to the Mayor.
In addition to the two warring parties, the current situation involves the port authority, the GNR, the tax authority and the Maritime Police.
The mayor said that as the the car park is cutn off he has had to stop drivers using the road down to the beach, This affects "people who want to come to Pintadinho, but also to the restaurant on the beach."
For a report from Sul Informaçao in Portuguse, see:
