A beach near a Spanish resort favoured by Britons will receive a massive cash injection as local authorities move forward with a planned facelift.
Costa Blanca is a vast stretch of coastline in the Alicante province, Southeast Spain, that encompasses multiple communities and runs for approximately 200 kilometres (120 miles).
Among those communities are the city of Alicante, an already well-known tourist hotspot, and Benidorm, the resort so famous for its British visitors that it spawned a TV series.
While renowned for its beauty and takings from the tourist industry, parts of the Alicante beachfront need development, local authorities have determined.
A deserted marina will be dredged and cleared ahead of a multi-million-euro development project.
Olive Press has reported that sand is being dredged from the mouth of a beach at Puerto Blanco, a harbour looking out onto Palma in Calpe, a town neighbouring Benidorm.
Workers have extracted sand from the port’s mouth to recover its 80-metre-long beach, with the massive new deposits protected on the shores using a collection of breakwater rocks.
The expansion is part of a new €5million (£4.3million) project seeking to repurpose an old, deserted marina.
The project will eventually create 203 new moorings and five commercial units, with plans first unveiled in December 2020.
The beach development comes as authorities introduce new fines that could sting Britons staying in Benidorm.
Tourists staying on the beach resort’s sunny beaches risk being fined up to £2,500 seven hours a day thanks to a raft of new, strict rules.
Sleeping, camping and swimming are now prohibited on the main beach between 12am and 7am, costing people up to €3,000 (around £2,500).
Authorities have also introduced several other rules that could see people fined lesser amounts.
Anyone who swims when a red flag is raised could cost €1,000 (£858), while something as innocent as reserving a place with a parasol or flag could cost up to €150 (£128).
People caught urinating in the sea could be stung with a €150 fine, and building large sand sculptures could cost the same.
