The Council of State ended, Monday, the legal saga of the bypass of Beynac-et-Cazenac, in Dordogne. The highest administrative court has ruled the department's appeal, promoter of this project, which is over thirty years old and partially built, “inadmissible”.
This 3.2 km bypass project, at a cost of 32 million euros, was expected, according to its promoters, to reduce road traffic in a tourist village of 550 people, very busy in summer and located in the at the foot of a listed fortress from the 12th century, along the Dordogne valley and on the Bergerac-Sarlat axis.
No "compelling reason of overriding public interest"
The Council of State ruled that the arguments put forward by the department and its PS president, Germinal Peiro, were not admissible, sealing the victory of their opponents, defenders of the environment and heritage who had mobilized against this project accused of distorting a village classified among the most beautiful in France and protected sites.
In detail, the detractors estimated that this circumvention would in particular harm, in a site classified Natura 2000 and "biosphere reserve", the habitat of more than 120 species - bats, semi-aquatic mammals, reptiles or amphibians -, including some protected. They also deplored its visual impact to a valley dotted with castles, which won opponents the remarkable support of Stéphane Bern.
15 million euros of additional cost to a project completed at 60%
The administrative court of appeal had estimated in December that the project did not respond to an “imperative reason of major public interest” and could not derogate from the prohibition to harm protected species and their habitat, judging also that road works carried out in 2017 in Beynac made the diversion "less useful".
As decided by the administrative justice last year, which had canceled a decree of 2018 authorizing the works, the parts already built - but stopped since the end of 2018 - will therefore have to be demolished. In December, Germinal Peiro estimated that the demolition would add 15 million euros of additional cost to a project completed at 60%, and would harm the environment.
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