«The relocation of the Camping de Monte Gordo has been included for over 20 years in the Municipal Master Plan (PDM) of Vila Real de Santo António, a document dating from 1992 and passed through the hands of the PS and CDU executives», said the Vila Real de Santo António City Council, in response to the indictment made by the environmental association Quercus.
Last week, Quercus expressed, in a statement, its "concern and displeasure" with the announced intention to relocate the Camping de Monte Gordo to the west, which will destroy «another significant portion of the National Forest of Vila Real de Santo António Coastal Dunes, with the sole purpose of satisfying the Vila Real de Santo António Municipality's real estate business and obtaining revenue at the expense of the destruction of values. naturals'.
In a statement, the Regional Nucleus of the Algarve of Quercus – National Association for the Conservation of Nature says it has taken note of the «intention announced by the Vila Real de Santo António City Council to sell land ceded by the State and to relocate the Camping Park of Monte Gordo to the west side of the village, destroying another part of the National Forest of Dunas Litorais and the Site of Community Importance Ria Formosa / Castro Marim».
Contacted by Sul Informação, the Vila Real de Santo António City Council also informed that «at this moment, the municipality is only implementing the provisions of the 1992 PDM, and is, for this purpose, starting public consultation with a number of such entities. such as the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), the Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR) of the Algarve or the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA)».
The City Council reinforces that «the area of the current Camping Park of Monte Gordo it has been included in the VRSA PDM as a Tourism Expansion Area since its approval in 1992».
The Algarve branch of Quercus, in its statement, underlines that «the National Forest of Dunas Litorais is one of the few public forest areas in the Algarve, extending its 434 hectares along the dune strip that runs west of Vila Real de Santo Antonio west of Monte Gordo».
«It is a dune ecosystem of high importance where the presence of maritime pine and stone pine forests (priority habitat for conservation in the European Union) and dune vegetation composed of beach lamb, sea thistle, eruca are evident. -maritime, reversal and by the fleshy thyme (a national endemism). The insertion of the National Forest of Dunas Litorais in the Natura 2000 Network – Site of Community Importance Ria Formosa / Castro Marim demonstrates the importance of this site in the European context», adds Quercus.
Therefore, taking into account the «importance that the National Forest of Dunes Litorais has for the preservation of the dune system of the Eastern Algarve and the natural values in presence», Quercus says it has already asked the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António for clarification « about the purpose of relocating the Camping de Monte Gordo into the classified area'.
The association also announces that “it will use all the means at its disposal to prevent, once again, the Portuguese State's assets from being sold to satisfy real estate interests, in a region that has an excess of real estate and tourism supply and which has been destroying systematically its natural values without safeguarding the public interest'.
The Vila Real de Santo António Chamber, as expected, has a different position and, in the reply sent to the Sul Informação, he even says that he considers "strange that an association that intends to show a credible work calls into question decisions that have been validated by all the bodies that have responsibility for the tutelage of that territorial area".
It further emphasizes that «no other entity, with the exception of the Municipality of VRSA, has ensured by the National Forest of the Coastal Dunes. Every day, a team of municipal forest sappers ensures the cleaning and surveillance of this green space, preventing it from forest fires».
In any case, concludes the municipality, «notwithstanding the conservation actions developed by the municipality, the management of the National Forest of Dunas Litorais is the responsibility of ICNF, which will always have a final word on the uses to be given to that green space, as well as the relocation of the current campsite».
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