The regional president wants to build a project for a region where every Parisian is less than 20 minutes from services, shops, public transport and even jobs.
Everything within 20 minutes of home, this is Valérie Pécresse’s next challenge. The regional president will debate this Wednesday, September 11, with elected officials from the Paris region at the Regional Council about the future of the Île-de-France region by 2040.
With the SDRIFe (Master Plan for the Île-de-France Region), Valérie Pécresse wants to see a “20-minute region” come to fruition in about fifteen years, a territory where all residents of the Île-de-France region have access to: public transport, jobs, shops and services within 20 minutes. To achieve this, the region links 117 medium-sized towns to 27 major hubs.
“It’s a balanced Île-de-France,” Valérie Pécresse assured BFM Paris Île-de-France. “Balanced between the city and nature, but also with cities that are villages in which there are public services, but in which we find all types of populations. I don’t want any more dormitory suburbs and I don’t want any more ghetto suburbs,” she declared.
70,000 new homes per year
First challenge: housing. The Île-de-France region wants to build 70,000 homes per year. A project considered totally unrealizable by the left-wing opposition. “We are very skeptical, already that we cannot achieve it now,” notes Kader Chibane, the president of the environmentalist group in the region, to BFM Paris Île-de-France.
“We need to review other possibilities with vacant housing such as Airbnbs. We need to build the city on the city,” adds the elected official.
However, Valérie Pécresse does not want to “hyper-densify the hypercentre”. Since construction is today a prerogative of mayors, the regional president has asked the State for the policy of stone aid, one of its skills, in order to encourage municipalities to build.
The issue of the “anti-ghetto” clause
Another measure on housing, the “anti-ghetto” clause aims to reduce the construction of social housing in cities already provided. “When you are not at all deficient with 50% or 60% of social housing (…) these cities have great social difficulties. I do not want us to accumulate social difficulties in the same city”, explains Valérie Pécresse.
On this point, the region has backed down under pressure from the State, which was concerned about a 21% drop in the construction of social housing. Instead of banning, the region is therefore encouraging cities that already have 30% of housing for the most precarious to stop building any more.
“It’s a resounding defeat,” says Céline Malaisé, the president of the communist group, speaking to BFM Paris Île-de-France.
“It’s his right-wing friends who don’t respect the SRU law,” adds Kader Chibane, while the SRU law which requires the construction of 25% of social housing in a municipality. “We must force rich cities to build,” he adds.
Development of public transport
Then comes the fundamental question of transport. Also president of Île-de-France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse announces around forty line extensions.
Among them, the line 19 project in Val-d’Oise or the extensions of line 1 to Val-de-Fontenay, of line 7 to Drancy or of line 10 to Ivry-sur-Seine.
The revival of river shuttles between Ivry-sur-Seine and Viry-Châtillon is also under consideration, as well as several road projects, such as the controversial intercommunal boulevard du Parisis.
“It’s not going in the direction of history”
However, all these constructions have a constraint with the reduction of artificialization of soils by 2050. “178 hectares less per year and for ten years, then 178 hectares the following ten years and so on”, explains Valérie Pécresse to BFM Paris Île-de-France.
“The idea is that every ten years, the effort will be the same,” she assures. She insists on the fact that the region will divide by three the urbanization of natural and agricultural spaces compared to the previous plan.
However, some urban development projects belong to the State and are therefore not taken into account after 2030. “At least 3,700 hectares are underestimated,” estimates Céline Malaisé on BFM Paris Île-de-France. Among those that would not be taken into account, there are for example 300 hectares at Disneyland or 110 hectares at the level of the Gonesse triangle.
“These lands will indeed be urbanized,” confirms the opposition elected official. “This trajectory for zero net artificialization is already completely outdated.”
On the environmentalists’ side, “we don’t have the same vision as Valérie Pécresse on artificialization. It’s not ambitious at all. It’s not going in the direction of history,” assures Kader Chibane.
Among other projects, 50 hectares are reserved for a possible stadium for PSG. In addition, Valérie Pécresse’s executive also presents a motion on its refusal to establish two prisons in Noiseau and instead proposes an expansion of the Fresnes prison.
“The town of Magnanville was particularly affected,” recalls Valérie Pécresse after the murder of a police couple in 2016. “We don’t want this prison to be built opposite the high school. There are industrial wastelands in the Seine Valley where we think there could be an alternative project,” concludes Valérie Pécresse, speaking to BFM Paris Île-de-France.
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