Beach home owners accused
Bid to protect crumbling properties that are being eroded by the sea
ECOLOGISTS have reported to the provincial office of the national coast department (Costas) that large quantities of stones have been dumped onto Babilonia beach in Guardamar del Segura.
According to the friends of the south Alicante wetlands association (AHSA), the rocks were deposited next to one of the buildings along Calle Inginiero Cornoniu last Wednesday, and a group of people then put them in front of one of the houses facing the beach. The ecologists believe the purpose was to create a breakwater to protect the building from the waves.
Although the homes were built legally in the 1930s, Costas has refused to renew their concession for occupying public domain coastland and the owners are prohibited from carrying out work on them.
Erosion of the beach, which the homeowners blame on the construction of the breakwater for the Marina de las Dunas in 1990, has brought the sea steadily closer to their doors and the houses have been repeatedly battered by waves during storms in the spring.
Several homes along this street have collapsed in recent years and rocks have been dumped in front of many others in a bid to prevent the same fate. The town hall even closed this section of the beach due to concerns that people might be injured by debris.
AHSA reminded that dumping waste or rubble in the sea or shore is prohibited and called for those responsible to be fined and forced to restore the area to its original condition. They said the Coast Law enables concessions to occupy public domain land to be revoked when there is a risk of them being reached by the sea.
They called for Costas to revoke the right to occupy these homes, and others in a similar situation in Elche, in order to restore the sand dune curtain after they are demolished.