On September 15, 2020, residents oppose the felling of trees in Vertou -

J. Urbach / 20 Minutes

  • In Vertou, anger is mounting over the felling of 16 trees, as part of a major rehabilitation project on the edges of Sèvre.

  • Opponents, who occupy the premises and have launched a petition, have taken the case to court.

Will the chainsaws who are ready to intervene quai de la Chaussée des moines in Vertou have to turn back?

This is the question that the Nantes administrative court is about to answer.

This Thursday morning, the judge must examine the fate of 16 trees intended to be felled as part of a major rehabilitation project for this walking site, located on the edge of Sèvre, well known to the inhabitants of the Nantes area. .

Opposed to this operation, residents have filed an appeal in order to "save" them.

For several days, there, resistance has been organizing.

“At a time of global warming, destroying trees of this quality seems incomprehensible to us, plague Cathy Turgis, a local resident.

It is a green setting that will be mineralized.

What Vertaviens dread enormously.

"On the quay, behind the gates of the construction site which was to start last week, there would be about fifty opponents to take turns day and night.

Signs and camping furniture were displayed around the twenty chestnut trees and swamp oaks, now decorated with a piece of yellow fabric.

A political fight as well, since the cause has notably received the support of Europe Ecologie Les Verts and of certain elected members of the opposition.

On September 15, 2020, residents oppose the felling of trees in Vertou - J. Urbach / 20 Minutes

Restore the bank

A petition, offered to all passers-by and curious who approach, has already collected more than 7,000 signatures.

It must be said that according to opponents, the felling of these trees would never have been mentioned during the consultation on this project, organized in 2016. “The residents were all the more shocked that this had never been done. discussed, says Me Pierre Lefevre, the lawyer who defends them.

You should also know that the Environmental Code prohibits the felling of this type of alignment of trees unless they are sick or they constitute a risk.

This is not the case here, since we are in a redevelopment operation, without any health criteria.

"

For its part, the town hall of Vertou (LR) reaffirms "the need to consolidate and restore this bank".

"The objective is then to give more space to pedestrians, to improve comfort and accessibility but also the environmental quality of this site, which is in real need of maintenance," promises Philippe Schwartz, deputy general manager "Territories and landscapes ”at the town hall of Vertou.

Eleven of the trees concerned date from 1991. We will replant local species and restore a green slope.

According to the town hall, only one of the chestnut trees, planted in the 1950s, would be sick.

The others, however, present "many degradations related to the old cuts", justifies the website of the city.

"Hear the emotion"

"Serene" as to the decision of the court, hoped for next week, Philippe Schwartz says however "hear the emotion" and promises to provide "new explanations" on this project, carried out with Nantes metropolis and the department and scheduled until 2022 in theory.

Residents, meanwhile, hope that the trees will remain in place at least until a second hearing, which must judge the case on the merits, but not for several months, if not years.

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