Here fences are cut, and the streets have the name and number of plots of land. At first glance, the place looks like a classic residential property. However, instead of homes, there are caravans and caravanserais. The Fond des Airs Coordinated Development Zone (ZAC) is located in La Couarde-sur-Mer, on the Ile de Ré, and covers 4 hectares. Dedicated to camping trips, it officially saw the light in 1988 under the leadership of Paul Nivour, a former mayor. The municipality then arranges the land (electricity, sewage, streets, water, etc.) and mentions the area. Forty-four plots of land were created. All have been validated by the governor.
La Francilienne Louise Blin, 90 years old today, is one of the buyers. With her husband and children, they spend all summer in this 650 square meter plot where there are two mobile homes and a caravan. “We’ve been here 40 years ago, it’s a holiday reunion. We want to keep enjoying it! She screams. This lady, like the other owners—subject to property and housing tax, they remember—was afraid of being evicted from their land. On July 26, they demonstrated In the streets of La Couarde at the invitation of the association Le Fond des Airs.
Camping is prohibited and the danger of immersion
As state services now consider this ZAC to be illegal, especially since the governor’s opinion dated August 10, 2019. The main reason invoked: Rye Island is an area designated as a registered site, leading to a “prohibition of camping on private plots”. “There is also the fact that this ZAC is rated in the red zone Rs3 under the PPRN (Plan for Prevention of Natural Hazards), there is a risk of submersion and no caravans are allowed. As it stands, the situation of these owners cannot be settled. I understand this is difficult for the occupiers but must The state must act within the law,” asserts Alain Priolle, Director of the Directorate of Territories and the Sea (DDTM) at Charente Maritime.
Le Fond des Airs opposes this reading of the texts, which it considers “wrong”, in particular because “the said articles of the Urban Planning Law regulate the practice of camping in isolation, which does not apply to our sector which includes more than a hundred establishments. Members’ representatives have submitted two appeals to Administrative Court of Poitiers: one against some points of the PPRN (currently under appeal) and the other against a reference to the PLUi, which has not yet been tried.
Find a humanly acceptable solution.
A complicated and thorny case, in which the town’s mayor declares it “uncomfortable”. I understand the bitterness and anger of these angels. Until recently, there was no problem. This ZAC was created in the 1980s by my predecessor with the approval of the Prefecture. The goal of the game is to get out on top of this situation, to find a humanly acceptable solution. I don’t see myself doing deportation. “I have an appointment on September 6 with the county general secretary, and I expect a lot from this interview,” said Patrick Rayton.
On the state side, the DDTM Administrator acknowledges that expropriation or eviction is not on the agenda. In particular, he said, waiting for the administrative judge’s decision to clarify any gray areas. The amendment to the Ile de Ré PLUi, which must be submitted after mid-September, can also help.
