Some users of Canavieira beach, in Caniço, assure that they are unhappy with the closure of the access path.
According to them, this path, “which has always been public,” was closed by a private individual, which is why, they are considering creating a public petition.
“How is it possible to close access to this beach and Allow private construction on it? My childhood beach. It was a pain to climb the path at the end of the day, but the beach was spectacular.” Wrote one resident on a private page created to discuss this topic, which already has more than 900 members.
On this same page, the President of the Parish Council of Caniço, Milton Teixeira, explains this decision and recalls that access to the beach da Canavieira was closed in 2018, more precisely on the 27th of July.
“It was closed after an inspection of the conditions carried out by the Parish Council of Caniço and by the Protection Civil. During their visit, they noticed a complete lack of security which put everyone at risk. Some of the security structures (including balconies) had been abandoned for several years and the support base was considered unsafe and unstable. Furthermore, the surfaces were slippery, there had been several rock falls, large crevices had appeared, and in the opinion of the Civil Protection experts, the access was unsafe and it has been abandoned for years.”
“In addition to the situations exposed above, illegal activities had taken place on the site which had led to law enforcement activities, and in July 2021, after the pandemic, the Parish Council cleaned the area and asked the Civil Protection for a reassessment of the area. They condemned it, saying it was worse than before.
“The closure,” said Milton Teixeira, was ” not easy. It was a childhood haunt of mine, But I would rather be penalised for an unpopular decision than have someone hurt because I was swayed by popular demand.”
“Could there be works and improved access? Of course! And, we are currently checking all the hypotheses, including the specialised intervention of the rockers of the Regional Government to verify whether the minimum services necessary to restore security will be achieved. As we are talking about the Public Maritime Domain, the council is also making efforts all possible efforts, with various entities, to try to find a solution to revitalise access to this beach, without jeopardizing the budgetary stability of this Parish Council. Moreover, as to the nature of the property where the said passage is located.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
