At the request of an administrative court, the State Council announced its arbitration between the Coast Act and mobile coverage. Operator relay antennas are no exception to the rule.
Faced with a legal void in a case between Free wanting to improve mobile network coverage and residents wanting to protect a site, the Rennes Administrative Court has finally turned to the State Council. The aim was to determine whether mobile infrastructures constitute an extension of continuity-oriented urbanization in coastal municipalities, and whether the operator could therefore install a tower in a place called Poulelest, near de Plomeur, a town in Finistère. This area is actually governed by coastal law.
France’s highest court had 3 months to rule on this case and just updated its judicial code. The State Council indicated that “The legislator intended to allow the expansion of urbanization in coastal municipalities only by communicating with existing communities and villages.”, And the “that he has made an exhaustive account of the structures, works, installations, or works that might nevertheless be located there without respecting the continuity rule”. according to him, “The construction of the mobile infrastructure comprising the relay antenna and its connection systems is not mentioned within these constructions.”. Faced with the difficulty of reconciling site protection and mobile coverage, the General Rapporteur of the State Council nevertheless proposed to the legislator “Thinking about relaxation in coastal municipalities that are not great from a landscape point of view”.
Thus, the order to build a mobile antenna is not part of the exceptions provided for in the applicable texts of the Coastal Code. Thus, the Administrative Court of Rennes is invited to take a decision by considering the Free Tower as a construction “Normal”, is not one of the exceptions.
Source : telegram
