The vice-president of Sète Agglo chairs the territorial dialogue commission set up by the company Ligne Nouvelle Montpellier-Perpignan (LNMP). He explains the role and the issues.
What is the purpose of this territorial dialogue commission?
Its goal is to study all the projects that could accompany the creation of this line. In particular, it will be about the service to Sète, the economic impacts on the territory, environmental data, etc. The commission will bring up the subjects. The objective is to do everything so that this line is accepted as best as possible by the population. To support these projects, there is a budget which corresponds to 0.4% of the total cost of the work. For us, this is still insufficient.
“Our challenge is to maintain the attractiveness of the territory. Our future is at stake”
Why is it only being created now?
We must start from the company LNMP chaired by Carole Delga, which is a project financing company created in 2022 and intended to collect funds (for this project, 40% from the state, 40% from communities and 20% Europe, Editor’s note). I am on the board of directors, appointed by the elected officials of Sète Agglo. Within the steering committee, co-chaired by the Regional Prefect and Carole Delga, four commissions were created, including that of territorial dialogue, where I was therefore designated to chair. I also made sure that the mayor of Poussan, a town particularly affected by the project, was present.
When it was installed at the beginning of September, the commission was concerned about the future service to Sète station. With this LNMP, how will you maintain its attractiveness?
We know that sectors which are not served by high-speed lines lose their attractiveness. This is our main challenge: maintaining the attractiveness of the territory. Today, we are four hours from Paris, and we know the importance for Sétois, tourists and even spa guests (25 to 30% come by train) of being well served so far. As of the 2021 public inquiry, we were on a route closer to the motorway, to avoid in particular the passage near the Issanka source, which supplies 50% of Sète with water.
But the declaration of public utility (DUP) of February 2023 definitively frozen the project. This is the one proposed by the SNCF, creating this 1.4 km viaduct more than 20 m high in Poussan. It is a reality, and the state of mind of the Agglo is to play on national and European solidarity. But this project is not positive for the territory, it brings nothing. Moreover, the communities of the Thau basin are only concerned to the extent of1.26% for financing, evening 12,4 M€ on phase 1 of the project, smoothed over forty years. €600,000 has already been invested.
What SNCF commitments are you working on?
We are told: “The market will continue to serve Sète”. But we want guarantees! It is about our future. We are firm on one point: if the line does not pass through Sète, then there must be a strong link with the Sud de France station in Montpellier, so that it becomes a “relay station” for Sète. This is a basic principle that we wish to engrave in stone through the Serm (Metropolitan Regional Express Service), which aims, ultimately, to synchronize the TER on the Sète-Montpellier coastal axis. We want a direct relay. This continuity between the TGV lines in the South of France and the TER line to Sète is a strong idea. It is, moreover, consistent with the emergence of a business district in the South of France and the development of the Eastern district of Sète.
“Making this viaduct a heritage object, almost a source of pride”
The ALT collective has been warning for a long time about a necessary dialogue with the population. How are you going to involve citizens in this dialogue commission?
We have a constructive dialogue with ALT. We have the same problems as them, we completely converge and we share their concerns. We will bring together all public authorities to move in their direction, namely preserving the environment and ensuring service to the Sète station. A committee dedicated to the Poussan viaduct has been created. A consultation will focus on the future work. Citizens will be questioned at the first public meeting, on November 7, in Poussan.
We have also set up a digital consultation which meets ALT’s expectations. Around forty citizens will be designated to participate in the workshops until the end of 2025, in order to work on the profile of the viaduct. The conclusions will not be decision-making, but will be used to integrate the viaduct into the landscape. We obtained an international architectural competition for this work. This is a very good thing. It is an ambitious project and we hope to make this viaduct a heritage object, almost a source of pride.
