The project to create a wind farm in the towns of Sainte-Gemme and Balanzac continues to make headlines. Awarding a prize comes from putting a coin back into the machine. Presented on November 22 under the auspices of the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, it rewards citizen consultation in this divisive long-term project (“Sud Ouest” of November 30).
“But what citizen consultation is this? » ask the members of the local Abaléol association. Certainly, “any inhabitant of the two communes can only be happy that a distinction is granted to their place of residence, even if this is based on the reality of the facts […] », they insist.
Last July, the public inquiry into this wind farm project resulted in a favorable opinion from the investigating commissioner. However, it revealed a certain popular hostility: “almost all” of the observations made in the register were unfavorable. As for the local authorities, only Balanzac, Sainte-Gemme and the Community of Communes of Charente-Arnoult have validated the project to install three wind turbines 200 meters high in this sector of the district of Saintes. Conversely, neighboring municipalities, nine in total, and the Department of Charente-Maritime said no.
Abaleol members remain perplexed. “Perhaps then we call “citizen consultation” the vague promotional meetings organized by the company which has taken over the market? “.
They take another example: the Balanzac Municipal Council of June 18. That evening, not all the residents present were able to enter the town hall, due to their number. “When citizens stay at home, we grieve and proclaim that they are no longer interested in public affairs; when they move around and wish to express themselves, they are seen as intruders, nuisances…”.
In short, this story of “citizen consultation” does not work. Or rather: “There is something here to thrill the spleen.” In other words, to make people laugh, according to Abaléol.
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