Le Figaro Nantes
It should have seen the light of day in May 2023. Nine months later, the controversial ecocenter expected on the island of Nantes has still not been delivered.
To the delight of worried local residents who have been fighting for several months.
“The actions of our lawyers made it possible to delay it for a year
,” says Eléonore Duplay, spokesperson for the Stop Écocentre île de Nantes collective.
Another element was communicated by the mayor of Nantes during a press conference last Thursday on the ecological redevelopment of this Nantes district.
“I mention [the ecocenter] to confirm the principle of its movement to move away from the nearest homes
,” announced Johanna Rolland.
This temporary urban project, which aims to treat, store and sort waste from construction sites on the island, was expected at the foot of the first homes for twelve years.
Enough to displease its future neighbors who had not hesitated to form a collective and to be accompanied by lawyers to demand the relocation of this three-hectare space, outside the island.
Samoa, the company in charge of its development, responded that in the interests of a circular economy, its distant move was not possible.
“Today, we transport land from construction sites more than 100km away, where it is buried in quarries.
There, the idea is to reuse as much of the land as possible to develop the streets, green spaces, tram lines, busway and real estate operations
,” explains Mahel Coppey, vice-president of the metropolis, delegate waste and the circular economy.
Read alsoNantes: discontent rises against an urban “ecocenter” which unites the right and the far left
“25 meters is the equivalent of crossing the street…”
The elected official indicates that, due to the proximity to homes,
“we looked for land opportunities to see if we could shift it.
There, we have an opportunity which was revealed a few weeks ago.
Thanks to this new land located to the south, we can move the ecocenter about a hundred meters away from homes
.
The plot acquired by Nantes Métropole comes from the Autonomous Grand Port.
The collective had been informed in January of a potential move:
“the acquired plot allows the ecocenter to be shifted by 25m, pushing it to a distance of 100m from the nearest homes”
, summarizes Samoa, requested by
Le Figaro
.
In summary, those concerned should always see it.
Still, this change of location
“requires some authorization updates.
In any case, it came from the citizen monitoring committee
,” continues Mahel Coppey, who assures that he wants to
“make it more acceptable to residents”
.
Which is not won.
“At this stage, we remain convinced that it is not a good idea to install depollution equipment in the open air.
If we look at the citizen impact study, we realize that in a territory which was an industrial zone for 100 years, the land is not inert
,” says Eléonore Duplay, on behalf of the collective which published a report of around sixty pages on the subject.
“If we are talking about potentially volatile fine particles, 25 meters ultimately does not change the situation.
25 meters is the equivalent of crossing the street... It takes you a little further away, it's true, but it's not likely to change the nature of the risk that it poses
,” she maintains.
Mahel Coppey indicates for his part that an acoustic study was carried out in order to reduce the hearing pollution linked to the passage of trucks.
On the air side,
“we collectively chose an external monitoring collective via Air Pays de la Loire.
In January, they carried out an initial study to take stock of the initial state of air quality.
With the objective of monitoring this quality throughout the project via the installation of sensors.
Local residents, who assure that air quality monitoring was obtained thanks to them, are now worried about the carbon footprint of the future center.
And continue to consult their lawyers specializing in environmental and urban planning law.
“The different administrative stages will open up possibilities for legal challenges
,” explains Eléonore Duplay.
A next monitoring committee is planned for mid-April with citizens, Nantes Métropole, Samoa, Brezillon (operating company), representatives of neighborhood associations, and some citizens.
A public meeting is also expected to be held in early summer.
The collective is planning a meeting without the project leaders to present their progress to local residents.
“What also remains certain is that if it is done here, it will be done in other cities in France
,” concludes the spokesperson, about this experiment which could flourish in France.