The Nerja Councillor for Beaches, Nieves Atencia, has issued a press release to inform that the Asociación de Educación Ambiental y del Consumidor, (who issue the blue-flag distinctions) has withdrawn the blue-flag category from the Maro and El Playazo beaches.
At the same time the said ADEAC has requested that the Town Hall puts right a series of deficiencies on the Burriana and la Torrecilla beaches, too.
The Councillor says that the decision taken by the ADEAC was caused by public and private behaviour and that in no circumstances has it anything to do with the quality of the sea water.
The ‘defects’ to be put right on El Playazo, for example are a dodgy flag pole for the blue flag and the fact that vehicles are being parked, blocking the access points, as well as illegal parking all along the beach at the time of the inspection, which was on Saturday the 21st. During the inspection they found cars parked on the sand, just metres from the water, BBQ’s on the sand, parked cars with music blaring – none of which infractions had been reported by the beach patrols to the Beach Councillor’s office.
Concerning Maro beach, the ADEAC inpspectors noted that there wasn’t enough parking for the visitor influx. Cars had been double parked, leaving only one lane for traffic in both directions. The ADEAC also recommended that rubbish collections be made more frequently. They recommend that the area behind the beach be tidied up, i.e., where the kiosks are. They also said that there was a lack of buoys to mark out the approach lanes to the beach for small boats and crafts.
As for Burriana and La Torrecilla, both have ten days to sort out such defects as rubbish from the bars and chiringuitos being left outside of the rubbish hoppers. There are also out-of-date, beach-information posters and the first-aid posts need oxygen-mask apparatus.
Referring to La Torrecilla in particular, the marked-out approach lanes for boats need notice boards to inform swimmers that they can’t bathe there and another notice board explaining the colour code for the warning flags. Finally, the life-guard’s megaphone doesn’t work.
The Councillor says that she went to work on sorting out the list of problems straight away.
(News: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)