A couple from Vendée prevented from building their house because of the roots of their trees

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The administrative court of Nantes dismissed a couple from Talmont-Saint-Hilaire who criticized the mayor of the town for having opposed them a negative planning certificate to build a house on their land on Chemin du Grand Quézeau, in the wooded area between the port of Bourgenay and the Dinosaures campsite.

The mayor of Talmont-Saint-Hilaire Maxence de Rugy had in fact informed the applicants, on March 18, 2021, that any new construction would be prohibited on their plot due to its classification in Classified wooded area (EBC)even if it was located in a building zone of the Local Urban Plan.

The couple then took legal action on May 15, 2021: their home with a limited surface area of ​​40 m² was not going to “compromise (…) the protection of afforestation”.

This 358 m² plot is also a “hollow tooth” in local urbanization: it is in fact “accessible from the public road”, “serviced” and “surrounded by buildings” according to the couple.

An “inexact application” of the Urban Planning Code

“The decree (…) was issued on the grounds that “the entire land base of the project was located in wooded areas classified to be conserved (…) and therefore cannot accommodate new construction””, therefore begins with resituate the administrative court of Nantes in a judgment dated October 15, 2024 which has just been made public.

“The entire plot (…) is subject to an easement of classified wooded space,” the Nantes judges initially confirmed. “If this easement prohibits (…) any mode of land use likely to compromise the conservation (…) of afforestation, it does not obstruct any construction. »

The mayor of Talmont-Saint-Hilaire therefore made “an inaccurate application (…) of the town planning code”.

Preserve the roots

But Maxence de Rugy was entitled to invoke an “other motive”, admit the magistrates in a second step. “The plot (…), unbuilt, covered with vegetation and including numerous tall trees, (…) is part of a vast wooded area (…) partly overlapping the Natura 2000 zone “Marais de Talmont and coastal areas between Les Sables and Jard-sur-Mer”, explains the administrative court of Nantes.

“The construction of a house – (…) even if the surface area (…) is limited to 40 m² – is likely (…) to compromise the protection of this wooded area (…) by obstructing the root development of trees high stem as well as maintaining the high ridges present. »

“The fact that the plot is classified as a building zone, partly surrounded by buildings, accessible from the public road and serviced, has no impact,” conclude the judges. “The mayor of Talmont-Saint-Hilair would have made the same decision based on this reason alone. »

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