Junta says beach parking charges are illegal

Los Lances Beach, Tarifa

TARIFA (Agencies) As we reported here, the Council decided, probably in financial desperation, to begin charging for parking near the municipality's beaches this summer. Local residents have complained about it in the media and have obtained permission to park for free if they can show they reside in the municipality. In the meantime, the Junta de Andalucía has decided that the charges are illegal at eight of the ten spaces allotted by the Council to parking. The Junta's Environment Council has a Beach Demarcation department that established what is and what is not public land near the beaches; having sent inspectors to measure things out, it decided that the parking 'facilities' are illegal at Los Lances, Valdevaqueros and Atlanterra, while another five are 'blocking access' to the beach, which is not on, according to the inspectors. The only one to have full, official permission is at El Lentiscal, in Bolonia, which was grated in 2008. The remaining beach where parking fees are demanded, Monte Sierra Plata, does not come under the Junta's aegis, being out of the public domain. Local sources tell us that barriers are still up, but there is no-one taking money at any of the places deemed 'illegal'.