Bulgaria’s beaches can hardly stand to support another sandcastle, let alone any further large-scale development.

News that just such developments are underway, whatever the individual merits of these developments, was compounded by what many see as sinister plans to change the system of categorisation of beaches – raising the possibility not only of access to some being limited only to guests of "all-inclusive" hotels and of a new system of charging for access to beaches.

Conservation organisations are making a fuss about reported plans to develop an "eco village" on what is not only one of Bulgaria’s few remaining wild beaches, but also one that is protected by EU-level environmental conservation rules. One may not agree with some of their language, but the issues that they raise are legitimate ones, especially given that Bulgaria already has fallen foul of the European Commission about neglecting its environmental protection duties.

In the case of Irakli, which is one of the places about which environmental activists are circulating a petition calling for a permanent ban on further construction, there is indeed an argument for bringing to an end the wrestling match over this sensitive area, and leaving it be for all future generations to enjoy. Which is not to say that Bulgaria should make no space for environmentally acceptable projects – indeed, some of the hotels supposedly slated for demolition because of being illegal might just provide that space, if the ground and water have not already been poisoned by concrete.

With this issue – and given that it seems that some seek to privatise some of Bulgaria’s beaches – not only the constitution should be borne in mind, but also the fact that only about half of the country’s coastline is accessible to the public, according to Cabinet minister Bozhidar Dimitrov. "And if you close some beaches… I do not know what you will be able to say to the Bulgarian citizen denied access to much of the coast," he said, and it is so that the authorities cannot reverse the stirring words of Churchill, to end up fighting their own people on the beaches.