This Monday, November 18, 2024 was a decisive day for the future of three municipalities of Gâtine, Allonne, Secondigny and Vernoux-en-Gâtine, which had to simultaneously, at 8 p.m. sharp, deliberate to validate or not the project for a new municipality bringing together nearly of three thousand inhabitants. But the initiative came up against the votes of Vernoux elected officials: ten voted against the merger, only two for. At the same time, Allonne approved the project unanimously when Secondigny, after a secret ballot, said yes with eleven votes out of seventeen.
A “ray of hope” to continue together
In Secondigny town hall a few minutes after the session, the elected officials, joined by their counterparts from Allonne, suffered the blow. So much so that Emmanuel Allard, mayor of Allonne and one of the most invested in this merger project, felt unwell before coming to his senses. “We are inevitably disappointed: there are people who are attached to the bell tower and the image of their municipality and who have not seen beyondhe assured a few minutes earlier. Perhaps we should have prepared and presented this project better, but from all this work only positive things came out. We want to continue together with Secondigny: if there is a possibility, we will exploit it. » Carried by “a little glimmer of hope”the two mayors contacted the prefectural services on Tuesday morning to discuss this option. “The deadlines are very short but if we can relaunch the mechanism together, we will”extends Jany Péronnet, the councilor of Secondigny. Because if the project does not succeed on 1is January 2025, we will then have to wait, at least, 2027 because of the municipal elections in 2026.
“We worked for a year and a half for nothing”
“We feared the resultcontinues Jany Péronnet. Everything was prepared, it's a shame. They were afraid that Secondigny would swallow everything. » “It’s better not to do it if we can’t get along.”estimated Joëlle Franchineau, elected in Secondigny, who was keen to “respect the choice” elected officials from the neighboring municipality. “I feel like a failure, there wasn’t enough dynamics. » “We worked for a year and a half for nothing”whispered Liliane Le Roux, deputy, leaving the council room.
A backlash for Secondigny? Not so much according to the mayor. “We have so many projects in progressassures Jany Péronnet. La Mam (home for childminders) should open no later than July 2025 behind the football field, there is also Small Towns of Tomorrow and the big subject of the sports complex. » On this last point accelerated by the construction of the future college, a new outline will soon be presented to stakeholders.
Did the name of Secondigny-en-Gâtine carry weight?
The day after the vote, the mayor of Vernoux-en-Gâtine, Véronique Sabiron, did not wish to expand on the subject. However, she confides that she is “disappointed” while thinking that “the name chosen may have made the difference”. Secondigny-en-Gâtine was favored by the votes of elected officials from the three municipalities. Other elected officials from Vernoux, like deputy Jean-Louis Maury who simply had not “no comments” to do, they also did not want to express themselves. As a reminder, the Azay-sur-Thouet municipal council also withdrew from the new municipality project last April.
