A first batch of illegal housing will be regularized by the Loire-Atlantique department, against the advice of the mayors concerned, who denounce the complacency of the eco-socialist majority in the maneuver.
Le Figaro Nantes
The old area to be defended falls into line, but at the expense of local elected officials. The permanent commission of the Loire-Atlantique departmental council, owner of 90% of the land in the former ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, north of Nantes, decided, Thursday, October 10, to regularize a first batch of illicitly occupied habitats. Associations “user representatives” of the three sectors concerned will sign 25-year long leases in the coming days. The culmination, for the mayors of Vigneux-de-Bretagne and Notre-Dame-des-Landes, of an eminently political procedure ignoring the reality on the ground and the local intercommunal town planning plan.
Since the abandonment in 2018 of the airport project at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, the land of the former ZAD has returned to an agricultural and natural zone. A sector which is therefore not intended to accommodate housing other than agricultural staff housing. Some of the historic Zadists have returned to the ranks by setting up local agricultural projects. But that was without taking into account the influx, in recent years, of a new generation of environmental and anti-globalization activists who have reoccupied part of the sector. And regularizing these neo-Zadists – some 150 people this season – does not suit the elected officials concerned. Even drop by drop.
“A bonus for the continuation of occupations”
“You have people, on the ZAD, who imagine themselves to be in a new Larzac and intend to live as they wish, that is to say in cabins in a wetland”observes Jean-Paul Naud, mayor (without label) of Notre-Dame-Des-Landes, who believes that the presence of these habitats regulated with forceps will harm the preservation of the bocage lands in the sector. “The non-decent qualification of these homes also deviates from the standards; It’s a shame when we know that farmers cannot live near their farm because of these occupations.”indicates Gwenola Franco, mayor of Vigneux-de-Bretagne, who specifies that she was only informed of the department’s approach at the beginning of the summer.
We buy social peace by trampling on the town planning rules that apply to everyone.
Maurice Perrion, president of the association of mayors of Loire-Atlantique
The image sent by these regularizations – on which the department is reluctant to communicate – also undermines the equality of citizens before the law, elected officials lament. “We buy social peace by trampling on the town planning rules that apply to everyone. When an individual is bothered about the height of a low wall or the color of a window, but sees the complacency enjoyed by these illegal dwellings, there is indeed reason to be revolted.underlines the president of the association of mayors of Loire-Atlantique, Maurice Perrion.
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“This is very clearly a bonus for the continuation of illegal occupations on the former ZAD,” remarks Rodolphe Amailland, Les Républicains mayor of Vertou and opposition departmental councilor. “While there reigned a peace of the brave and the old ZAD had largely calmed down, this opaque maneuver does not seem specific to contain the areas of lawlessness which are making a comeback »adds Erwan Bouvais, also in the departmental opposition, who reads in this gesture the influence of the elected environmentalists of Loire-Atlantique.
So many arguments dismissed by the socialist majority of the department, which defends regularizations on a case-by-case basis, conditional on the adequacy of the files with the agricultural and environmental project of the bocage. All in “a concern for appeasement”. But without a word on the mysterious character of the occupants of the ZAD, which causes unease in the town. The mayors do not know who lives in all the structures, report their difficulties in finding contact details where to contact them, and struggle to find people to contact. “And when some people register for cultural events, they use assumed names,” notes Marine Guilloux, deputy of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, responsible for social affairs. On the old ZAD – as around regularized buildings – living together is still struggling to emerge.
