A new commune has emerged in Hauts-de-France. Named Hesdin-la-forêt, it brings together four villages into one commune. Objective: pool resources. A decision that leaves residents skeptical.
This is a rare enough fact to be underlined: four municipalities of Pas-de-Calais have chosen to merge to form the city from Hesdin-la-forêt. The new commune is populated by around 5,000 inhabitants. Within the new boundaries of the municipality, there are not yet any signs to indicate the entrance to the new town.
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
But in Huby-Saint-Leu, a village having merged with the three others to give birth to the new entity, the grouping which makes the inhabitants of this commune react. “How can you erase the history of a village with the stroke of a pencil? I’m shocked,” confided a resident to Europe 1.
Residents not all convinced
“I only see negative things… I'm afraid it will have an impact, particularly on property taxes,” adds another resident. “It’s good that the communities are coming together to be stronger,” counterbalances his wife.
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
The objective is to offer more services to the population, and also to pool resources, underlines Matthieu de Manchot, the only candidate to become mayor. of the new municipality.
A generation to get used to change
“For example, the municipal police. There is only one in the delegated municipality of Hesdin-la-forêt. Three municipalities did not have one. We will be able to extend it immediately, expand the workforce, deploy the video protection which was also not necessarily present in its municipalities.
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
This is indeed an evolution, he insists, and not an act of death of the old villages. According to the future mayor, it will take a generation to get used to the name of this new municipality.
