The center-right Popular Party (PP) has always made a point of defending chiringuitos beach bars that open during the summer season and it looks like the new coast law will bring yet more improvements to the sector.

Draft regulations to which EL PAS has had access talk about letting some chiringuitos take up twice as much surface area as they are currently allowed to do, and move closer to one another.

The document is part of a new law that purports to protect the coastline through sustainable activities, yet has been widely criticized for doing just the opposite: it allows all existing construction to remain standing, regardless of its legal status, and issues even more licenses to build.

The secretary of state for the environment, Federico Ramos, captured the essence of the law with the following sentence: Whatever impact has already been done, let us make the most of it.

Whatever impact has already been done, let us make the most of it

The new regulations developing the Coast Law make a distinction between urban beaches and natural beaches. In the latter, beach bars will have a maximum surface area of 70 square meters and be made entirely of collapsible elements. The minimum distance between chiringuitos will be 300 meters.

But urban chiringuitos will be allowed to take up 300 square meters, up from 150, and stand no more than 75 meters from one another if their activities are dissimilar.

Urban beaches will also be allowed to host public events with a tourism impact, including all kinds of sports and cultural events as long as they have national or international impact. Licenses will be granted by local authorities after securing a favorable report from the regional government. Visual or audio advertising, which used to be banned, will be allowed in exceptional cases for authorized leisure and sports activities.

Under the new regulations, two types of sand dune will remain outside the public domain the category that encompasses the beaches and affords the highest protection. This is because these dunes are not considered necessary to guarantee the stability of the coast. These criteria could open the door for building residential estates and hotel complexes in dune areas such as Valdevaqueros (Tarifa), several experts agreed.

The minimum distance between chiringuitos will be 300 meters

The rest is here:

Spains beaches: open for business