the essential
The canton’s first winner with its 1,202 votes, the Lézibloc project, in Lézignan-Corbières, exploded the scores of the 2nd edition of the Aude participatory budget. Less than a year later, the sports infrastructure opened its doors on Friday to all those who wish to discover and practice bouldering.
The Department launched its 2nd participatory budget in 2022-2023, intended for territorial projects, with an envelope of €1.5 million at stake. After the submission of applications, the selection of the most successful projects and support from the community to put together the final versions, 185 projects were submitted to the Audois vote in April 2023. The citizen consultation then brought together 21,218 votes, almost double the first edition in 2020. The Lézibloc association, responsible for the creation of a climbing block at the intercommunal gymnasium (next to the high school), received strong support from the population, raising the project to 1st place in the canton and 2nd in the general classification. A success which its president, David Trillon, looks back on, even though the infrastructure has just opened.
One year after the good news, where are you?
The room is ready. It was custom-equipped by Altissimo, a Toulouse service provider specializing in climbing structures. Everything was created on site, after a work permit was submitted by an architect, financed by the Intercommunality to which the gymnasium belongs. Its technical department was also very present in preparing the room and the community also provided us with assistance for the various mandatory conformity tests. The participatory budget made it possible to build the infrastructure (1) including the numerous sockets and landing mats on the ground, which are 30 cm thick. In total, there were 23 days of work to make the block. Then, I equipped the routes by creating climbing corridors of different levels. Currently, the block room is used by high school students, the intercommunal gymnasium also serving the establishment, in addition to associative activities.
Can you go back to the origins of this project?
The idea dates back to a long time ago, when I was a sports teacher at Anglade college. I had discussed with Valérie Dumontet (2) an additional installation, such as a climbing wall, at the Tournier hall (3) or elsewhere so that it would also be accessible to Rosa-Parks middle school students. We had thought of that for Lézignan because it was lacking. But the big floods of 2018 changed the situation (4).
What happened next ?
5 years ago, I joined the high school sports teachers team. The idea of doing a block in the large room (400 m2) at the back of the gymnasium started from a joke with my colleague Nicolas N’guyen. It was more for a professional need for our students. Then, Henri Réal, another colleague, heard about participatory budgeting. We saw it as a great opportunity to promote and develop climbing in the Lézignan region, no longer just for our students, but for the general public. Open its use to as many people as possible to democratize the practice, which is beneficial on many levels. We then created the Lézibloc association.
Where does this desire to climb come from?
I practiced a lot in the region with the Narbonnais club and colleagues. So, I made students climb. In Carcassonne there is a rope climbing gym with a small block. There was a need to introduce the teachers there and the person who manages the room asked me if I could do it. I have an initiator level in climbing, which is the first level to supervise outdoors.
Are you also going to manage the climbing club?
No, even if we are registered as a climbing club in our statutes, our association only supports the management of the room. We are all very busy and, by discussing with the Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture (MJC), it has positioned itself to manage the general public activity. What we want is for as many people as possible to use the block.
