"After several months of listening and expertise", the Prefect of Eure, Jérôme Filippini issued a decree asking the operator of SCEA Pérault to lead the modernization and improvement work on his site. Houlbec-Cocherel, near Vernon (Eure), "without increasing the total number of cattle on the site".
SCEA Pérault (also located in the neighboring town of Douains), which currently has around 400 head, applied in 2017 to extend its herd to 634 dairy cows.
In 2019, at the end of a public inquiry, an investigating commissioner had already issued an unfavorable opinion on this project denounced by residents, environmental associations and certain elected officials.
After several upgrades and upgrades on the site, the Departmental Council for the Environment and Health and Technological Risks, on the other hand, issued a favorable opinion.
In Houlbec-Cocherel, opponents of the expansion of a dairy farm were impatiently awaiting the prefectural decision.
Last spring, the prefect requested a national expert mission to the ministers of ecological transition and agriculture.
Its conclusions, delivered at the beginning of September, establish that "the operation of the farm and its integration into its local environment must still be improved and do not allow today to authorize an increase in the number of animals as requested by the operator ”.
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The Prefect of Eure notes that the extension request was made "in a climate of opposition from residents and certain elected officials", in a context "where societal expectations are high".
He announced the upcoming establishment of a “site monitoring commission” in order to keep an eye on the progress of the project and to allow dialogue between the different parties.
