“No one is forced to eat at McDonald’s, and I consider it a strength to have the choice.” The mayor of Neuvic, Paulette Doyotte, is a bit annoyed at having to answer the question for several days. “Yes, that’s true.”, a McDonald's fast-food restaurant will open in the Intermarché shopping area on the outskirts of the cityalong route 6089 and the A89 motorway. Almost immediately, a petition was launched to say “No to the establishment of a McDonald’s in Neuvic”.
The mayor signed the building permit in October: “I had no reason for refusal, this building permit is legal”specifies Paulette Doyotte. The American brand plans to bring with it two or three other brands. “McDo will be the flagship brand that will bring in other big national brands”highlights the chosen one.
70 job creations
According to our information, two additional businesses are in negotiations to set up, perhaps with a gym in addition. In total, these new businesses must create 70 new jobs : “And if McDonald’s doesn’t come, the other brands won’t come either.” The start of work is not planned for at least 6 to 8 months, time to establish an archaeological diagnosis of the soil. If remains are found, this would push back the project for about another year.
A petition signed by a “collective of citizens of Neuvic concerned about the good health of the local population and the defense of small traditional businesses” East already launched on the internetpour oppose the construction of McDonald's. This Thursday, November 21, it had a little more than 150 signatures. We tried to contact the author of the petition, he did not respond to our requests. The text calls on the town hall to “return to this building permit”, in the name of the “defense of traditional local and artisanal gastronomy”. They say McDonald's would make them a “formidable competition” and refuse “industrial junk food from a multinational”.
“It’s José Bové’s speech 30 years ago!”
“There is no question of penalizing the attractiveness of the town”defends the mayor of Neuvic Paulette Doyotte: “We have the absolute guarantee that there will be no commercial activity in the area competing with that of the village: no florist, no optician, no pharmacist, no baker or hairdresser!” In other words: no Marie Blachère, nor Ange, to compete with the baker in the town center.
The elected official denounces a petition which “aligns with José Bové's speech 30 years ago”. “If we follow their reasoning, we should eliminate all foods that have a bad nutri-score: kebabs, Coca-Cola or Nutella! We are not closing tobacco shops or drinking establishments“. It arises in defender of the economic development of her municipality : “McDo is popular with young people aged 18 to 35, I prefer to keep them in Neuvic than to see them leave for Montpon or Marsac. In any case, no one is obliged to go and eat there, and I consider that that It's a strength to have a choice.” McDonald's in Neuvic will be the brand's ninth restaurant in Dordogne.
