More towns joining in...
ALMERIA
The colonies are multiplying uncontrollably in public spaces in the capital and on the Almeria coast, while other Andalusian municipalities have reacted in recent months with restrictions to put an end to the boom in houses on wheels in a pandemic
Rafael Gonzalez
Written by
IVAN GOMEZ
Editor
09 February, 2022 - 06:00h
Motorhomes are in fashion and have been experiencing a strong pull during the pandemic. In the main towns of the Almeria geography it roams freely without any control or regulation and the colonies of houses on wheels have multiplied like mushrooms in recent months . They are invading public spaces that do not meet adequate conditions for this type of vehicle, such as the old fairgrounds, Retamar beaches and the mouth of the Andarax River in the capital, as is the case with parking lots on promenades and privileged areas of the coast throughout the province a.
MORE INFORMATION
The Board imposes this summer more than 500 fines on caravans in the Cabo de Gata natural park
The motorhome drivers, unpunished before the illegal settlements on the coast
This saturation of caravans, which are mostly in the hands of French, German and Central Europeans who have moved to the south of the peninsula in winter in search of good weather, generates a serious problem of image, coexistence and health in those strategic points of the Andalusian coast that they are being forced to take measures in the face of the collapse of facilities and public areas not enabled for the stay of mobile homes. City councils of the Tropical Coast of Granada and Malaga have approved in recent months edicts and ordinanceswith which to put a stop to this wave of motorhomes who repel specific areas to avoid the expense that it entails - around 15 euros a day - and opt for privileged enclaves totally free but without benefits.
Almuñecar has already prohibited camping on urban roads in the municipality while it is studying the creation of an overnight area and the Motril municipality has recently had a regulation in force that does not allow parking for more than two days in a row in the same place that is usually the promenade . maritime and seaside areas. The Malaga council has just approved a drastic ban on the esplanade located next to the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace where a small mobile city had been improvised with more than a hundred caravanists as a camping site. Multiple complaints from neighbors have pushed the council to determine that the car park can only be accessed from nine in the morning to twelve at night. Regulations that have been emerging in response to a situation that is spreading along the Andalusian coast, but that have already been applied in other stricter communities such as Catalonia.
Caravans in the parking lot of the port of GarruchaCaravans in the parking lot of the port of Garrucha
Caravans in the parking lot of the port of Garrucha / RAFAEL GONZÁLEZ
For some time now, Almería has been one of the provinces with the greatest demand and drive for motorhome tourism , but its large coastal towns have made practically no progress in regulating a segment that has experienced exponential growth since the beginning of the crisis. coronavirus health. There is no regulation at the provincial level, beyond those established for the protected areas of the community, and most towns are not facing an increasingly palpable reality in their enclosures and promenades , especially during the winter months. The consistories, including that of the capital, are turning a blind eye to a consented invasion of motorhomes in spaces that are not enabled or conditioned for overnight stays.
Not only do they occupy beachfront car parks, but they also empty the gray and black water tank, called poti in caravanist jargon, into the public sewer every two or three days. A dozen establishments in the province, concentrated in Carboneras, Aguamarga, Pujaire, Albaricoques, Cabo de Gata and Roquetas , were designed for this service and have facilities to evacuate these discharges, as well as showers and other benefits that do not exist in the ' clandestine settlements. The users of these legal locations face investments of more than 180,000 euros in their mobile homes, those who own them, but are not willing to pay the between 10 and 20 euros per day charged by the enabled areas and campsites in the province.
They are mainly colonies of European tourists who save 15 euros a day in designated areas
In the capital, caravans have made several migrations in recent years , although their presence has not stopped growing. They were frequent in the area of El Palmeral until the neighborhood pressure due to noise and saturation ended up moving them to the Paseo de Ribera on the Bobar beach. During the first part of the pandemic they moved from the car parks of the Maestro Padilla Municipal Auditorium to the mouth of the Andarax River and since the end of the year the main colony of adapted motorhomes and camper vans has been installed in the old fairgrounds, next to the outdoor sports facilities and family park on Avenida del Mediterráneo. Not all choose to share massive camps and sometimes small groups can be found in other areas such as the Levante del Puerto dock. During the last weekend there were also caravans in Las Salinas and Retamar .
Although the caravanist responds to a profile of ecological tourist, who is self-sufficient and is a lover of nature, sometimes with high purchasing power, these clandestine and free campsites that have been improvised by half the province can never be understood precisely as an example of sustainable tourism because, beyond the unfair competition exerted on the businessmen who have prepared facilities for this purpose, the motorhomes have to frequently empty their tanks and on many occasions this waste ends up in the sea, riverbeds or sewers .
Caravan colonies in privileged enclaves of the Cabo de Gata natural parkCaravan colonies in privileged enclaves of the Cabo de Gata natural park
Caravan colonies in privileged enclaves of the Cabo de Gata natural park
Aware of their impunity, they do not hesitate to set up tables and chairs next to their caravans, park other secondary vehicles such as trailers, bikes and motorcycles or hang clothes to dry with ropes tied to trees. These colonies not only multiply occupying roads and public spaces in the capital, but they are practically dispersed throughout unregulated points of the entire Almeria coast from Adra to Pulpí . Hence the strong criticism in recent years from the private sector that offers this type of service to caravanists for investing in public spaces that were not profitable.
The public administrations have severely sanctioned this type of overnight stay in protected natural spaces, such as the beaches of the Cabo de Gata natural park -more than 500 fines last summer-, but in urban centers such as the capital, the city councils feel overwhelmed and ensure that control over rotations is practically impossible . In high season they estimate that there are close to a thousand motorhome drivers deployed in the province, although the main breaches occur in winter when they move away from the conditioned areas.
They saturate car parks on seafront promenades and other public areas in privileged enclaves
The caravanists have discovered that in certain places of confluence the Police do not act through economic sanctions and the neighborhoods communicate with each other to determine overnight areas in corners as unique as the beaches of San José, Aguamarga, Las Negras, Garrucha or Vera. In summer the influx intensifies, mainly around the coast of the natural park, but the domestic market usually goes to the areas intended for motorhomes , specifically those of the campsites in the province. However, in winter foreigners arrive in waves who have chosen not to invest a single euro in their stays, generating serious economic damage to the owners of designated areas that are practically empty until Easter.
More than 500 fines in the natural park
Last summer, Environment Agents of the Junta de Andalucía filed more than 500 reports of non-compliance with current regulations in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, most of them for spending the night with vehicles enabled as homes , such as caravans, motorhomes or 'camper' vans, in spaces not enabled between sunset and sunrise. Sources from the Andalusian Government have specified that from the beginning of July to the end of the first fortnight of August, 511 fines have been issued, of which 430 have been to people who have tried to spend the night outside the spaces enabled for it inside the park. .Despite its proximity and the dissemination of regulations for the correct use and enjoyment of the spaces of the natural park
ALMERIA
The colonies are multiplying uncontrollably in public spaces in the capital and on the Almeria coast, while other Andalusian municipalities have reacted in recent months with restrictions to put an end to the boom in houses on wheels in a pandemic
Rafael Gonzalez
Written by
IVAN GOMEZ
Editor
09 February, 2022 - 06:00h
Motorhomes are in fashion and have been experiencing a strong pull during the pandemic. In the main towns of the Almeria geography it roams freely without any control or regulation and the colonies of houses on wheels have multiplied like mushrooms in recent months . They are invading public spaces that do not meet adequate conditions for this type of vehicle, such as the old fairgrounds, Retamar beaches and the mouth of the Andarax River in the capital, as is the case with parking lots on promenades and privileged areas of the coast throughout the province a.
MORE INFORMATION
The Board imposes this summer more than 500 fines on caravans in the Cabo de Gata natural park
The motorhome drivers, unpunished before the illegal settlements on the coast
This saturation of caravans, which are mostly in the hands of French, German and Central Europeans who have moved to the south of the peninsula in winter in search of good weather, generates a serious problem of image, coexistence and health in those strategic points of the Andalusian coast that they are being forced to take measures in the face of the collapse of facilities and public areas not enabled for the stay of mobile homes. City councils of the Tropical Coast of Granada and Malaga have approved in recent months edicts and ordinanceswith which to put a stop to this wave of motorhomes who repel specific areas to avoid the expense that it entails - around 15 euros a day - and opt for privileged enclaves totally free but without benefits.
Almuñecar has already prohibited camping on urban roads in the municipality while it is studying the creation of an overnight area and the Motril municipality has recently had a regulation in force that does not allow parking for more than two days in a row in the same place that is usually the promenade . maritime and seaside areas. The Malaga council has just approved a drastic ban on the esplanade located next to the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace where a small mobile city had been improvised with more than a hundred caravanists as a camping site. Multiple complaints from neighbors have pushed the council to determine that the car park can only be accessed from nine in the morning to twelve at night. Regulations that have been emerging in response to a situation that is spreading along the Andalusian coast, but that have already been applied in other stricter communities such as Catalonia.
Caravans in the parking lot of the port of GarruchaCaravans in the parking lot of the port of Garrucha
Caravans in the parking lot of the port of Garrucha / RAFAEL GONZÁLEZ
For some time now, Almería has been one of the provinces with the greatest demand and drive for motorhome tourism , but its large coastal towns have made practically no progress in regulating a segment that has experienced exponential growth since the beginning of the crisis. coronavirus health. There is no regulation at the provincial level, beyond those established for the protected areas of the community, and most towns are not facing an increasingly palpable reality in their enclosures and promenades , especially during the winter months. The consistories, including that of the capital, are turning a blind eye to a consented invasion of motorhomes in spaces that are not enabled or conditioned for overnight stays.
Not only do they occupy beachfront car parks, but they also empty the gray and black water tank, called poti in caravanist jargon, into the public sewer every two or three days. A dozen establishments in the province, concentrated in Carboneras, Aguamarga, Pujaire, Albaricoques, Cabo de Gata and Roquetas , were designed for this service and have facilities to evacuate these discharges, as well as showers and other benefits that do not exist in the ' clandestine settlements. The users of these legal locations face investments of more than 180,000 euros in their mobile homes, those who own them, but are not willing to pay the between 10 and 20 euros per day charged by the enabled areas and campsites in the province.
They are mainly colonies of European tourists who save 15 euros a day in designated areas
In the capital, caravans have made several migrations in recent years , although their presence has not stopped growing. They were frequent in the area of El Palmeral until the neighborhood pressure due to noise and saturation ended up moving them to the Paseo de Ribera on the Bobar beach. During the first part of the pandemic they moved from the car parks of the Maestro Padilla Municipal Auditorium to the mouth of the Andarax River and since the end of the year the main colony of adapted motorhomes and camper vans has been installed in the old fairgrounds, next to the outdoor sports facilities and family park on Avenida del Mediterráneo. Not all choose to share massive camps and sometimes small groups can be found in other areas such as the Levante del Puerto dock. During the last weekend there were also caravans in Las Salinas and Retamar .
Although the caravanist responds to a profile of ecological tourist, who is self-sufficient and is a lover of nature, sometimes with high purchasing power, these clandestine and free campsites that have been improvised by half the province can never be understood precisely as an example of sustainable tourism because, beyond the unfair competition exerted on the businessmen who have prepared facilities for this purpose, the motorhomes have to frequently empty their tanks and on many occasions this waste ends up in the sea, riverbeds or sewers .
Caravan colonies in privileged enclaves of the Cabo de Gata natural parkCaravan colonies in privileged enclaves of the Cabo de Gata natural park
Caravan colonies in privileged enclaves of the Cabo de Gata natural park
Aware of their impunity, they do not hesitate to set up tables and chairs next to their caravans, park other secondary vehicles such as trailers, bikes and motorcycles or hang clothes to dry with ropes tied to trees. These colonies not only multiply occupying roads and public spaces in the capital, but they are practically dispersed throughout unregulated points of the entire Almeria coast from Adra to Pulpí . Hence the strong criticism in recent years from the private sector that offers this type of service to caravanists for investing in public spaces that were not profitable.
The public administrations have severely sanctioned this type of overnight stay in protected natural spaces, such as the beaches of the Cabo de Gata natural park -more than 500 fines last summer-, but in urban centers such as the capital, the city councils feel overwhelmed and ensure that control over rotations is practically impossible . In high season they estimate that there are close to a thousand motorhome drivers deployed in the province, although the main breaches occur in winter when they move away from the conditioned areas.
They saturate car parks on seafront promenades and other public areas in privileged enclaves
The caravanists have discovered that in certain places of confluence the Police do not act through economic sanctions and the neighborhoods communicate with each other to determine overnight areas in corners as unique as the beaches of San José, Aguamarga, Las Negras, Garrucha or Vera. In summer the influx intensifies, mainly around the coast of the natural park, but the domestic market usually goes to the areas intended for motorhomes , specifically those of the campsites in the province. However, in winter foreigners arrive in waves who have chosen not to invest a single euro in their stays, generating serious economic damage to the owners of designated areas that are practically empty until Easter.
More than 500 fines in the natural park
Last summer, Environment Agents of the Junta de Andalucía filed more than 500 reports of non-compliance with current regulations in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, most of them for spending the night with vehicles enabled as homes , such as caravans, motorhomes or 'camper' vans, in spaces not enabled between sunset and sunrise. Sources from the Andalusian Government have specified that from the beginning of July to the end of the first fortnight of August, 511 fines have been issued, of which 430 have been to people who have tried to spend the night outside the spaces enabled for it inside the park. .Despite its proximity and the dissemination of regulations for the correct use and enjoyment of the spaces of the natural park
