they want to prevent the installation of a relay antenna

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Five inhabitants asked the administrative court of appeal of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) this Tuesday December 17, 2024 to cancel the “non-opposition” of the mayor of Saint-Nicolas-de-Redon (Loire-Atlantique) to the relay antenna project carried out by Orange in 2019 at a place called “Le Moulin Neuf”.

Loire-Atlantique: they want to prevent the installation of a relay antenna

The mobile telephone operator had in fact filed with the town hall, in June 2019, a prior declaration of works to erect this 47.30 meter high antenna.

The mayor (various right) at the time, Dominique Chauvière, then validated the project with a “non-opposition” decision dated October 3, 2019.

The applicants, who had been dismissed at first instance by three separate judgments of the Nantes administrative court of January 31, 2023, raised before the administrative court of appeal nine arguments.

Residents notably denounced a “lack of transparency” from the town hall “towards the population” and maintained that “the petitioning company” – which is precisely called “Orange UPR Ouest” – “does not exist” legally.

The relay antenna was also “not connectable to the public electricity distribution network” and the Local Urban Plan (PLU) of Saint-Nicolas-de-Redon opposed the installation of a such a telephone station in a “natural” area.

A “simple connection” was sufficient

The applicants also maintain that the project required – because of its “land footprint” of “36 m²” – a “building permit” and not a simple prior declaration of works.

The public rapporteur, whose opinions are often followed by judges, however, proposed to the administrative court of Nantes to reject all their arguments.

He thus considered that the “petitioner company” did indeed exist on a legal level and that the disputed relay antenna was only “75 meters” from the electricity distribution network.

A “simple connection” was therefore sufficient, and an “extension” of the network was not necessary. The project was also planned “in a wooded area” without “interest […] particular”, and its “total floor area created” is in reality “less than 5 m²”, which justified the prior declaration procedure made by Orange.

The case under advisement

None of the applicants were present during the hearingt only the mobile operator was represented by a lawyer.

The latter relied on her writings concerning the merits of the case but she insisted on highlighting a “Kafkaesque situation”.

“We would like to put an end to this matter, the authorization dates from 2019,” she sighed.

The Nantes Administrative Court of Appeal, which has put the case under advisement, will deliver its judgment in the coming weeks.

ED (PressPepper)

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