Lille (AFP)

A rare space of 23 hectares, in the city center: in Lille, where pollution peaks are countless, Martine Aubry's brownfield development project is criticized by its competitors at

Located near the ring road, an old freight station closed in the early 2000s is now closed to the public, giving way to a huge vacant lot.

The socialist town hall and the European metropolis of Lille have been carrying out a real estate project there for several years, based on a "balance between habitat, nature and everything that contributes to urban vitality". About 35,000 m² of offices, 20,000 m2 of shops, a new 3.4-hectare park, an Olympic swimming pool and 2,400 housing units, of which 65% are social, should emerge from the ground.

When the government of François Hollande sold the land in 2017 for 7 million euros, well below market prices, it was precisely because the project was "to allow the middle classes to find accommodation in the new in the center - city".

This was without counting the opposition of several environmental defense collectives. In a "mineral city" - where there is only one large park - this project could "irreparably disfigure" the capital of Flanders with 232,000 inhabitants, according to the Parc association, which has taken legal action.

Pending a decision on the merits of the administrative court, the current project is suspended. An opportunity for all the belfry contenders, who make it an angle of attack against Martine Aubry, candidate for a 4th mandate, and the symbol of the "greening" of their campaign.

La Friche Saint-Sauveur "is a totem pole that represents the vision of the city of tomorrow", judges the candidate LREM Violette Spillebout, ex-director of cabinet of Mrs. Aubry, who wants to review the project in different proportions: a "biopark" of 15 hectares and 1,500 dwellings to meet "a real need".

- Avoid "urban sprawl" -

Among the Greens, officially still in the majority even if they have distanced themselves from it, we promise "a big green lung" instead of the "stillborn" project of the mayor, which they nevertheless supported for a time.

"There remains only Martine Aubry and a square around to defend it", judges Stéphane Baly, head of the EELV list, who hopes to take advantage of the 21.7% recorded by the party in the Europeans in Lille. "The current project corresponds to the time of reflection of the end of the 90s, not to global issues and local emergencies".

And opponents recall the figures: only 14m2 of green space per inhabitant, chronic air pollution - in 2018, the air quality index was bad or very bad for 9 days and average to poor over 111 days , according to the regional monitoring body Atmo.

"The ice floe is melting around the current majority, it will brace itself on positions, it cannot go up", wants to believe Julien Poix, candidate LFI, who promises "zero construction" and "a lung green managed as a citizen cooperative ".

On the side of the town hall, we sweep the critics, seeing in the positions of the competitors, "not up to par", an electoral opportunism.

"I don't think Lille people are waiting for Saint-Sauveur to turn into a reserve with tables and huts in crates for a few," says Stanislas Dendievel, assistant to town planning.

The outgoing majority believes that the project of the architect Jan Gehl responds to the "fight against urban sprawl", to "housing needs" and presents an "exceptional overall ecological balance" ... While saying he is ready to to "evolve".

Last week, Martine Aubry received the strong support of the former Minister of Housing Emmanuelle Cosse, who lambasted the "demagogy" of her former environmental comrades.

"Saint-Sauveur is a very good idea," pleaded the former boss of EELV. The town hall was able to "recover land that the SNCF could have sold much more expensive to private promoters", she said before letting go: "It is not for the well-housed to explain where the poorly housed will live "

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