“The State imposes it on us”… Will a transit area for travelers see the light of day in West Aveyron?

This is a burning issue that arrived on the table of the Ouest Aveyron Community community council this Thursday evening. Elected officials looked at the departmental reception and housing plan for travelers in Aveyron, for the period 2024-2029. For the Villefranchoise part, this document provides three requirements: maintain the 24 caravan spaces in the permanent area, Gravasses zone; provide social support; and create a passage area sized for 60 places. It is on this last point that the debate focused.

“We have already had heated situations”

“We do not have any major passages in our territory,” argues Michel Delpech, president of the intercommunality. “The State requires us to make investments in tools that are useless, especially given the general economic context.” Currently, Aveyron has two busy areas in Rodez and Millau, close to major traffic routes.

Initially sized for 4 hectares, the president of the intercommunality and the mayor of Villefranche negotiated an exemption so that this area would be one hectare. “We especially don't want to do an oversized project. If we don't have this high-traffic area, when travelers go to settle in a stadium, the gendarmerie will not intervene,” underlines Jean-Sébastien Orcibal, the mayor of Villefranche. “Today, the Madeleine fairground sometimes acts as a busy traffic area. If people settle there, we cannot evacuate them. We have already had hot situations recently.”

“To flourish in a framework of general interest”

Currently, the permanent area has 24 places. “New equipment could relieve, when a family with 6 or 7 caravans arrives, the overoccupancy on the remaining places,” adds the mayor. In addition, this master plan provides for social support. “In Villefranche, there are travelers in the heart of the city, whose social uses are not necessarily adapted to the way we live in the city center, in particular swimming pools in the street in the summer,” comments the mayor . “We must also support them so that they can find a place, with more space, to flourish in a framework of general interest.”

Heavy investments

For the moment, this project is only in the embryonic stage. The elected officials provided a favorable opinion, conditional on the support of all the intercommunal authorities of West Aveyron. In the coming months, they will be asked to give their opinion and take a position on financial support.
“This is not a 100,000 euro project. We need electricity, a sanitation network. This requires heavy investments,” supports Michel Delpech. “Sometimes you have to be tenacious and stand up to the State, otherwise we would have already bought the land. If communities refuse, the project will not go ahead.”