Residents of a town in Calvados oppose the installation of a mobile telephone antenna

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At the beginning of December 2024, after discovering the site for the installation of a mobile telephone antenna, residents of the delegated municipality of Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery (Calvados) came together as a collective and appealed to the administrative court of Caen , in order to oppose its construction.

This project to install a mobile telephone antenna in this sector of the south of Pays d'Auge in order to allow better network coverage was initiated by the Calvados prefecture during the summer of 2022. The municipalities concerned were Lisores and Val -of-Life

“We never heard of it”

After a study carried out by the company Bouygues Telecom, a first antenna was installed in the town of Lisores in March 2023, already offering better coverage, but leaving certain sectors of Val-de-Vie poorly served. “We never heard of it. We could have received information through the mailbox, as is regularly done by the town hall during municipal events. We consider that there was a desire to hide this project,” confides Aurélia Landeau, member of the collective, living for thirteen years on Route de La Rabassière, below the location of this antenna, at a height of 42 meters.

“When I visited the house with the real estate agent, there was no network. The antenna installed in Lisores certainly provided better coverage. When I bought at the end of October 2023, I had four bars of 4G. There is a small area that is poorly covered, but I think that there is no need for a 42-meter antenna to resolve this defect,” underlines for his part Laurent Cognec, who had chosen this place for its calm and its landscapes.

Non-compliance with the PLUi

In the letter addressed to the president of the administrative court, the collective highlights several points.

Firstly, “the construction of this antenna would not respect the local intercommunal urban planning plan (PLUI)”, because “it would be located in the blue zone”. They also mention “a corridor of landscape sensitivity and the presence of the Plesse manor, dating from the 15th^e century, classified as a historic monument. They also highlight the disfigurement of the landscape and the “possible decline of their homes”.

Legal procedures

Jean-Paul Saint-Martin, mayor of Val-de-Vie can understand the dismay of these residents, but wanted to emphasize that the municipality had respected the procedure in this file initiated by the prefecture. “It is not the municipality which chose the location of this antenna, which will make it possible to complete the network coverage provided by the Lisores antenna,” specifies the first magistrate. “We had offered land belonging to us in another sector of the town. But, after study, the technicians pointed out that this location was not suitable and that the most suitable location was near La Côte, route des Fondits. »

“Once the procedure was launched, we put up a sign on site during the summer with the building permit notice. There was also a poster at the town hall on time and we had legal notices published in three newspapers. »

After initially being rejected, the collective entrusted the matter to a lawyer to obtain the establishment of this antenna in another sector.

“We will comply with court decisions,” concludes Mayor Jean-Paul Saint-Martin.

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