Le Figaro Nantes
They call themselves
“The Gauls”
.
Deep in La-Chapelle-sur-Erdre, a town populated by 20,000 people located on the outskirts of Nantes, a collective made up of 217 people has been railing against the installation of a biowaste processing platform for almost two years.
In May 2022, this site emerged from the ground a few dozen meters from the first homes.
He transforms collected bio-waste into compost, before redistributing it to local farmers.
On paper, the virtuous character of this project, destined to establish itself in the four corners of the metropolis, has always been praised by its current detractors.
Until the day when cohabitation turned into hell for these residents, some of whom have lived here for decades.
In December 2019, when elected officials presented their intention to them, they assured that no odor would be released, unlike the pilot site.
Some had started to smell a scam.
But did they know that they would have to face nauseating odors similar to rotten eggs, to the point of no longer having lunch outside in the summer?
And that the noise of the trucks would poison their ears?
Read also Near Nantes: one year later, the delicate cohabitation of residents with a waste processing platform
Odors that persist
Nearly two years later, the members of the Ça Respire à la Chapelle collective, since structured as an association, readily recognize that the situation has improved.
But everything is not resolved and they do not intend to give up anything,
“as long as there is not a single house that cannot enjoy its garden without causing nuisance”
.
“A person spends their whole life buying a property and they say, sorry, it smells like you, you’re in the wrong place!”
, still marvels President Jean Iemmolo, spearhead of the mobilization.
Since the beginning of July, the odors should have disappeared, according to the orders of the prefecture, which had already pushed back this deadline by three months.
On a graph presented Thursday at a press conference, citizen experts listed seven reports in July, just like last January.
This is equivalent to seven days of an unpleasant scent tickling their nostrils.
This scrupulous working method is the hallmark of these residents determined to fight such injustice.
“We are guinea pigs
,” laments one of them, pointing out amateur practices.
“Since the beginning, it has been shaky and it was done in a hurry
,” laments Philippe Albert, living in an adjacent housing estate.
By spending their days dealing with administrative twists and turns, they ended up raising a few issues, such as non-compliant regulations.
This led to positive developments, but still incomplete in their eyes.
Read also: Compost odors near Nantes: local residents want to join forces to file a complaint against the platform
Conflict of interest
Ten days ago, another element came to support their actions.
An opinion from the ethics officer of Nantes Métropole, which they had received, questioned the role of the deputy mayor for the environment, agriculture and food, Jean-Noël Lebossé:
“the public interest of which this elected was in charge and the private interests that he may have held at one time created a situation of interference characterizing a conflict of interests which can only be noted,”
it is written.
The conflict would lie in the sale of private land from the elected official to SCIC Nord Nantes, which is carrying out the platform project.
Asked by
Le Figaro
, the elected official in question regrets not having been contacted by the ethics officer.
He certifies that he has
“deported himself since the beginning of the case”
: another elected official has been assigned.
He adds that the City has nothing to do with it, the subsidies coming from the metropolis, the region and Ademe.
The city's mayor would only have been responsible for signing a building permit, two days before the 2020 municipal elections. Jean-Louis Le Guen, former deputy for town planning and now an active member of the association, had to time refused to sign.
In his report, the ethics officer suggests to councilor Fabien Roussel to explicitly relieve his deputy of
“all responsibilities likely to interfere with the private interests that he holds or has held in the TERRA-TER project, and to entrust them to another elected official.”
.
The chief magistrate of the commune is not considering it, just like any resignation:
“he is not responsible.
“It’s not the city that was an intermediary
,” he replies.
The accused wonders about the benefits he could have obtained, knowing that the case does not involve
“personal enrichment”
.
“If there had been no conflict of interest, the choice of land would have been made according to more logical criteria, perhaps with a call for tenders, in conditions which would have been further away from the houses”
, retorts treasurer Jean-Louis Le Guen.
Jean-Noël Lebossé explains that this location was chosen because initially, the project was to collect green waste from individuals.
A feature ultimately aborted.
Read also Near Nantes: one year later, the delicate cohabitation of residents with a waste processing platform
A tense cohabitation
One thing is certain, cohabitation between local residents and those responsible for the site has already worsened.
In October, when he came to photograph plastic remains of compost spread across a field, Régis Rebours declared that he received a punch.
He admits that he had entered without authorization but the one who still has a loose tooth cannot help but think:
“when we use violence, it is because we have something to reproach ourselves for”
.
Thursday, while
Le Figaro
was walking with a delegation from the collective, cries of
“no photo!”
resonated.
As they approached, two members of the platform wanted to give their point of view.
“Today, they don't want to accept that we are there
,” regrets Ludovic Fabre, employee of the SCIC Nord Nantes, praising the improvements and minimizing the odor.
Failing to completely reduce random odors, he first wants
to “be integrated into the environment”
.
“We don’t want it to end in war
,” assures Étienne Pineau, deputy director of Terra Compost, alongside him.
“It’s not pleasant for employees to have people spying on what we do all day long
. ”
For him, the objective is to create a
“bridge between the city and the countryside by recovering waste from the city to redistribute it to farmers in the countryside”
.
He assures that he is attentive to complaints.
A few meters further on, local residents, who take care to stay away, confirm that exchanges sometimes take place.
They don’t want to be likened to
“city dwellers who complain about the rooster crowing”
as they might hear.
They consider themselves honest people refusing to lose their peace and see the price of their house drop, for a project about which they were lied to.
In the meantime, they have already reached into their wallets to obtain the services of a lawyer who will explore the flaws: two appeals to the administrative court have been filed.
They regret coming to this point but,
“apparently, we can only manage this through justice”
.