By Evie Andreou
MONAGROULLI village council wants Limassol district’s only dog-friendly beach moved some 500 metres down the coast, as it is in a prime development area and council members only found out about the decision through the press.
Council leader Paraskevas Heracleous said that their apparent agreement came just days after the Animal Party praised the community’s decision, which he said was a misunderstanding.
The community’s reaction stems from the arbitrary decision of the Public beaches committee, Heracleous told the Cyprus Mail, which “without ever discussing their intentions with us and without our consent, went ahead and designated the beach”.
“We do not oppose this because we have nothing against beaches where dogs are allowed. I am an animal lover myself and have five dogs. I love dogs,” he said.
The problem is, Heracleous said, that the specific stretch chosen by the beaches committee falls within a touristic area and its designation as dog-friendly could hamper future development.
“We are not against the designation of a dog-friendly beach 300 to 500 meters further down the coastline which is five kilometres long, just not there,” Heracleous said.
“I met with (the head of the Animal Party’s) Kyriacos Kyriacou, and we visited the site together, but he must have confused my courtesy with consent. We, as a council, do not agree to this measure,” he said.
He added that their refusal sparked a heated war of words between the council and the beaches committee.
“We sent a letter to the committee, but we received no response and then upon our refusal to comply, they sent a threatening letter, saying that we face being fined and having our rights over the specific beach revoked,” he said, not rule out seeking legal recourse.
“The decision lies with the beaches committee, if the two sides do not see eye to eye, they need to sort it out between them. We simply offered to help them raise funds to create the right infrastructure like bins, benches, maybe a refreshment kiosk,” Kyriacou said.
The beaches committee could not be reached for comment.
So far, beaches designated as dog-friendly are Koradjia off Kato Pyrgos, Louma opposite the Waterworld water park in Ayia Thekla, Spyros Beach south of Larnaca airport, the beach northwest of Paphos airport in Acheleia and Kampos tis Foinitzias off Neo Chorio in Paphos.
