Photo sent by Alice Morini - Mala Beach, Cap-d'Ail (06) - Alice Morini

  • Since October 2019 a decree defining the public maritime domain makes the Mala sheds illegal
  • A Nice architect pleads for the heritage recognition of these sheds so that they are protected. An online petition has even been launched

"This is the last visible testimony of the fishermen of the Coast", declares Nicolas Svetchine, son of the architect from Nice who pleads for the heritage interest of these seaside constructions on the famous beach of Mala de Cap d'Ail (Alps -Maritimes). For several months, his father, Luc Svetchine, based in Nice and author of works on local heritage , has been mobilized against the destruction of these ancestral sheds, threatened with destruction.

Installed for many years at the foot of the cliffs, at the water's edge, these small structures have now become part of the public maritime domain, since last October and the signing of a prefectoral decree to this effect. The cabins therefore became illegal.

The constructions in pink represent the sheds which are now included in the public maritime domain decided by prefectural decree in October 2019, represented here by the red line. - Prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes

For the Nice architect, these sheds have a fundamental heritage interest. He asked for their recognition as "historic elements of the beach". “My father even sent a long letter to the architects of the buildings in France where he pleaded the cause of the sheds. They have not taken a stand, ”deplores his son Nicolas, who has been going every summer for 10 years to the beach at La Mala. "These sheds participate in the poetry of the place".


A "relentless" on the sheds

And it's not this beach user who will say the opposite. For 46 years, this Niçoise, who wishes to remain anonymous, spends her summers in her mother's cabin. “We all know each other, it's part of our life. Tomorrow if there is no longer the shed, I will not be setting foot there again! "She declares.

Located at the foot of the cliffs, its small shed of 33 m2, in the family for 70 years, is also threatened with destruction. For her, there is a relentlessness on the cabins of Cap d'Ail: “It's incomprehensible. They employ geologists. During all these years they have been demonstrating the quality of the sand to us and looking for strategies to get us out, she says. Psychologically it is very difficult. Each year my mother believes that the shed will disappear. I hope she won't experience that. "

"We mix the law and the emotional"

"On a beach like La Mala we are on a natural beach, there cannot be more than 20% of private use, 80% must be for public use", explains Serge Castel of the Departmental Directorate of Territories and from the sea (DDTM). Regarding the mobilization around the Mala cabins, he said: “We mix the right and the emotional. These cabins are part of family, festive and local life, but the problem is that they have appropriated public goods. "

The idea, according to Serge Castel, is to set up projects “respectful of the beach decree as in Juan-Les-Pins”. “The projects, we started them in March but we will let the summer pass. And we will work again at the start of the school year. We are not going to recover from emotion this summer, especially with what happened ”, with reference to the coronavirus.

For their part, the defenders of the sheds remain mobilized. "For them the fight continues, and they will continue to occupy the premises until the steps are taken to the end," says Nicolas Svetchine. An online petition has even been launched for the “safeguard of the Mala beach sheds”. It collected more than 1390 signatures.

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