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rubbish containers provided. All such sites are within the gazetted beach boundaries.
These barbecue areas are considered to be properly used in the main and although rubbish is still being left behind at night, the area is cleared by the staff when they come on duty and there is minimum inconvenience to beach users. The Bathing Beach By-laws are clear in this respect and section 5 is relevant to this matter:-
No person shall, on any bathing beach-
(a) do any act which is likely to endanger, obstruct, inconvenience or annoy any other person using the beach; or
(b) do any act which is likely to damage, foul, litter, deface or disorder the beach or anything situated thereon, or to pollute the water adjacent to the beach
Indiscriminate barbecueing on the beaches during the hours of daylight is not permitted since this would be regarded as a nuisance to other beach users. In the dark hours this does happen, but U.S.D. staff are not in attendance and it is unlikely that this constitutes a nuisance when the beach area is comparatively empty.
Barbecue pits were constructed to keep the beaches clean and to segregate this pastime from other beach activities. The popularity of barbecueing has expanded considerably in recent years and groups are larger and there are more of them. Often at night time beach barbecue parties extend well beyond designated barbecue sites. However, the sites do constitute focal points and it is considered that without such areas barbecueing would have spread even further afield.
Barbecue sites, within gazetted beach boundaries, are not generally close to dwellings and their siting was deliberate so that they would be as remote as possible both from people's homes and the public beach. The proposed changes to the Bathing Beach By-laws, which will make noise by transistor radios on public beaches illegal, may help, but enforcement at night will be a police matter. The disturbance of house owners in the vicinity of beaches by late barbecue parties is known to exist in one particular case at St. Stephen's Beach. Here, the assistance of the police when the peace of a property owner is being disturbed by untoward noise from a beach area should be obtained. The removal of the barbecue pits would serve no useful purpose because barbecueing would just continue.
While it is possible to do so there is, needless to say, no intention to degazette such areas which are properly controlled during the duty hours of U.S.D. staff and which most young people use properly. The misbehaviour of a few cannot be accepted as grounds for denying these facilities to the many who derive great benefit from these Urban Council facilities.
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MR. T. S. Lo (In English):-I am afraid I have a number of supplementaries, Mr. Chairman. The first one, Mr. Chairman, relates to the protection of the interest of private owners of properties. The Bathing Beach By-laws clearly do not do this as they only seek to protect other users of the beach. My first supplementary is: will it be considered by the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee to possibly amend or add to the existing By-laws so that there will be a prohibition not only for annoying or inconveniencing other users of the beach but also private owners who dwell adjacent to it?
MR. KENNETH Lo (In English):-Mr. T. S. Lo certainly has a point there. I think although the stated intention of the By-laws, as they stand at the moment, is to prevent annoyance of any other person using the beach, we could certainly consider the points and include property owners in the vicinity as well.
MR. T. S. Lo (In English):-The second question I would like to ask is whether it has been confirmed with the Cleansing Division that in fact the area will be cleaned after late night barbecueing and do we have the staff for this?
MR. KENNETH LO (In English):-I understand that they are cleaned every morning. If there is any litter found there, it is cleaned.
MR. T. S. Lo (In English):-Thank you very much. My third supplementary, Mr. Chairman, is this: the answer states that the removal of barbecue pits would serve no useful purpose because barbecueing would just continue. I wonder what the justification was to have the barbecue pits constructed, since people could barbecue any way without them.
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