Le Figaro Nantes
Wednesday evening, around 9 p.m., in the rain and facing the wind, a team of four employees of the company JC Decaux are busy around an 8m2 advertising panel located near an elementary school along the boulevard de la Fraternité in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique).
Their objective: to remove it from the public highway, load it into a truck so that it can be reconditioned and repositioned in another city.
The team leader, supported by a driver and two fitters, does his best not to obstruct traffic.
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An intervention far from being unique.
This is an example of the large-scale action implemented that evening: in the space of ten hours, between 8:30 p.m. and 3 a.m., 110 billboards were removed from the streets of six municipalities in the Nantes metropolitan area. (Saint-Herblain, Bouguenais, Orvault, Rezé, Nantes and Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire).
For Johanna Rolland, the mayor of Nantes, present on the scene, it is the illustration of a
"punch operation"
, as she will repeat several times.
No ads near schools
This exceptional mobilization stems from the decision taken last June, unanimously by the 24 municipalities of Nantes Métropole, concerning the local advertising regulations (RLPm).
This provides in particular for the banning of advertising on 70% of the territory, which will make it possible to reduce the presence of advertising in the Nantes metropolitan area by 45% by 2024. The operations to dismantle billboards are therefore to be pursue.
In total, within a year, a thousand will have disappeared in the Nantes conurbation.
Second operation
After the removal of 110 billboards of 8m2, Wednesday evening, ten others of 2m2 were removed on the morning of Thursday between 8:30 and noon.
“This decision makes it possible to preserve the landscape, reduce visual pollution and question lifestyles sometimes turned towards hyper-consumption”
, estimates the mayor of Nantes.
In her speech, she insisted on the other strong points of the anti-advertising measures: the disappearance of 12m2 billboards and the ban on advertising around schools - from kindergarten to college - within a perimeter of 50 meters in order to
" save children from advertising
.
30% less revenue
It also highlights the energy savings made by these removals and the decision to turn off the billboards between midnight and 6 a.m. as well as the illuminated windows of the bus shelters as soon as the transport service is stopped:
"This represents 625,000 kW/H per year for the Metropolis.”
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On the other hand, she is much less inclined to give a precise figure on the loss of money for the community.
"This represents, on average, a 30% decrease in revenue which is between 10 and 11 million euros
," she says in response to the media present.
The sum would therefore be around 3.5 million euros.
A hole in the coffers that the elected official justifies:
“When people want action, it is a strategic and proactive choice that we had anticipated when making our budget.”
Quality of service maintained
For the company JC Decaux, private provider of the public street furniture market in Nantes Métropole for the period 2016-2036,
"the loss of money will be nil"
, explains to
Figaro
, Valentin Gourdon, the regional director of the company in Brittany and Pays de la Loire.
How is it possible ?
“The reduction in our revenue will be offset by a reduction in the fee that we pay to the community each year,”
he specifies.
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Despite this, he promises that the
"quality of service"
offered to the inhabitants of the Nantes metropolis will be the same in terms of washing or maintaining furniture.
Same thing for the enhancement of advertising thanks to a new mesh of the remaining panels (94 of 8m2 and 355 of 2m2).
If this operation to remove billboards remains a
"pinch in the heart"
, he remains confident in the activity of his company which must
"adapt"
to the expectations of communities.
Following the example of Nantes, other French cities, such as Rennes, Lyon, or Bordeaux have decided to reduce the presence of advertising in the public space on the occasion of the renewal of their market.
Specific to Nantes: it was done as part of an amendment to the current contract.