The launch of a real estate operation in the Grand-Faubourg district sparked criticism from Ladislas Vergne (LR) during the Chartres city council meeting on Thursday, September 19, 2024.
Despite around forty deliberations on the agenda, the Chartres city council did not linger on Thursday evening. It took barely an hour and a half to conclude the session, with almost no debate, as the elected representatives of the left-wing groups decided not to speak and to express themselves only through their votes.
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It was therefore Ladislas Vergne, LR municipal councillor and former deputy mayor, who spoke out for the opposition by denouncing the sale of several plots of land on rue du Grand-Faubourg and rue Chauveau-Lagarde with a view to carrying out a real estate transaction as part of the redevelopment of the district. The land will be sold for €700,000 excluding tax to the company Exia, winner of the call for projects launched by the municipality.
“Rabbit cages everywhere”
“More soulless buildings! You seem to love it, rows of rabbit hutches all over Chartres,” said Ladislas Vergne. “Why? Because you’re afraid of losing residents, so we use every last bit of land.”
The elected official acknowledges that “buildings need to be built and there are some very fine developments, particularly on Rue Noël-Ballay in the city centre”. But he believes that others have disfigured the neighbourhoods, particularly on Boulevard Clémenceau, Rue du Docteur-Baudin, or in La Roseraie, which he described as a “concrete neighbourhood”.
“Rue du Grand-Faubourg has lost its soul for years,” he continued. “It doesn’t need new, sanitized buildings, but new businesses, new trees, new life; it needs people to think about it.” […] I want less of a policy of filling up, but rather a policy for the well-being of the inhabitants.”
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Jean-Pierre Gorges, the mayor of Chartres, said that Ladislas Vergne did not know the city well. “We cannot afford to have empty homes,” he replied, stressing that no real estate project starts until nearly 80% of the homes are sold.
“Wherever there is something that is dilapidated, that cannot be rented or sold, we break it down and rebuild it intelligently.”
Jean-Pierre Gorges (Mayor of Chartres)
For the mayor, the main difficulty today is not building quickly enough to meet demand in the context of economic development: “There are three billion euros of investment in the city of Chartres; 1,450 immediate jobs in recruitment that will generate twice as many jobs. But we do not have enough housing to accommodate these families.”
Jean-Pierre Gorges also stressed that the city was reusing urban wasteland to finance its growth. “Wherever there is something that is dilapidated, that cannot be rented or sold, we break it down and rebuild intelligently. In the city center, there are 1,600 empty homes. Our bet is to rebuild all of that on itself.”
The mayor’s remarks did not convince Ladislas Vergne or the four elected members of Chartres Écologie, who voted against the resolution. The two elected members of Chartres on the left abstained.
Silence among left-wing elected officials
The elected representatives of the Chartres Écologie and Chartres à gauche groups did not speak at the city council meeting on Thursday evening. “Since our speeches were booed by the majority or were the subject of insults or endless digressions in the mayor’s responses, and the proposals made were systematically rejected (and then sometimes taken up by them), we have chosen to no longer contribute to the sad and long spectacle orchestrated by the mayor and his deputies during city council meetings,” explains the Chartres Écologie group in a press release.
The elected officials will continue “to sit and vote on deliberations of general interest. But we have chosen to focus our energy on disseminating information and proposals to the people of Chartres via press releases, publications on social networks and, above all, meetings in public places in order to build together an alternative project for 2026,” the Chartres Écologie group continues in its press release.
The elected representatives of Chartres on the left joined “in the choice of the elected representatives of Chartres Écologie to remain silent and not give an explanation of vote during the reports of this municipal council”, specifies Jacqueline Marre, also in a press release.
Laurence Franceschina
