why a golf course should not see the light of day despite the stubbornness of promoters

In Fontiers-Cabardès in Aude, after 12 years of standoff, the prefecture considers that the authorization to build a vast tourist and sports complex has expired. This golf project will therefore not see the light of day, to the satisfaction of opponents and environmental defenders. But its promoters have not said their last word.

It is a vast field of 146 hectares, on which stands an abandoned stone farmhouse. An area located in the town of Fontiers-Cabardès (Aude), which has remained pastured since 2012. It is nevertheless coveted by the leaders of a golf project. But nothing has changed since the first authorization for a new tourist unit (UTN) was granted, prior to any implementation.

Failing to have started the work within the regulatory deadlines, the prefecture of Aude and the prefect of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region, coordinator of the massif, consider that the decree creating this UTN is now obsolete. In short: impossible for golf to see the light of day.

The authorization was signed in 2012, it is 2024: nothing has happened on the ground, so it becomes obsolete. This is what the legal texts provide.

Christian Pouget

Prefect of Aude

For opponents of the project, the relief is immense. For they consider it to be “from another time” while climate change is at work in Aude and the time has come to preserve water resources. However, the complex was to have an 18-hole golf course and several dozen tourist and individual accommodation.

It's very reassuring to have the Chamber of Agriculture, but also the State on our side: we have the same trajectory and the same desire to no longer have this sword of Damocles above our heads. The project is neither desired, nor desirable, nor feasible economically, environmentally, or legally.

Anne Lesné

Co-secretary of the Montagne Noire Avenir association

But the TELCAPI company, which has led the project since its inception, has not said its last word. His manager interprets the texts differently, whatever the prefecture says. For Valéry Beauvillain, the authorization for a new tourist unit remains valid.

We are continuing our work and we will submit a development permit application as planned. We also discussed it with the prefect in July of this year.

Valéry Beauvillain

Responsible for the Fontiers-Cabardès golf course project for the company TELCAPI

TELCAPI reaffirms its intention to build the golf course, accompanied by an 80-room hotel, 45 houses and 50 apartments in this small village of less than 500 inhabitants nestled in the heart of the Montagne Noire.

“It's surprising and difficult to understand, but it's their logic.“, is half surprised by Anne Lesné, co-secretary of the Montagne Noire Avenir association, spearhead of the opposition to the construction site.

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A standoff therefore begins with the prefecture and with associations committed to environmental protection, who for their part wish to return these lands to their primary agricultural vocation.