During the evacuation of the ZAD du Carnet (Loire-Atlantique), Tuesday March 23, 2021. -

S. Salom-Gomis / AFP

  • Le Carnet is a site on the banks of the Loire, between Frossay and Saint-Viaud, west of Nantes.

  • The Great Seaport wanted to develop it partially for economic purposes.

  • A ZAD, installed for six months, was evacuated by force on Tuesday.

The day after the evacuation of the ZAD du Carnet (Loire-Atlantique), occupied for six months by around fifty activists, the Grand maritime port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, owner of this former embanked Loire island, is delighted with the success of the operation.

“We are relieved that it went smoothly, reacts Olivier Trétout, the general manager of the port.

This situation could not last any longer because of tensions with local residents and the pressure exerted on elected officials.

We regret the degradations committed and the hindrance of access to the site during these months of occupation.

It was important to restore a peaceful atmosphere.

"

According to him, the Carnet site is now in a "very degraded" state.

"Trenches were dug, reed beds were pulled up for the construction of the huts," he says.

We found a significant number of plastic and polystyrene waste tangled in brambles, grease deposits in the ground….

In total, 500 m3 of waste is being removed.

Above all, the site could not be maintained by our teams specializing in the management of natural spaces and invasive plants have proliferated.

".

"The economic crisis has changed the situation"

If the Zadistas had settled down to defend the Carnet, it was because the Grand Maritime Port planned to install, on this vast, partly wild land, a logistics base (pontoon) as well as an eco-business park. .

A potential of a thousand jobs was announced.

But in the face of environmental criticism, the port had already announced in November that the project was postponed by at least a year.

It should ultimately be longer than that.

“At this stage, we have no more plans, announces Olivier Trétout.

We no longer have any development or construction project.

Just because the area has been evacuated does not mean that a factory will rise from the ground tomorrow.

For the Zadists, there is therefore absolutely nothing to defend.

"

The general manager of the port explains.

“We want to give ourselves time.

The economic crisis we are going through has changed the situation and forces us to review our priorities.

So as long as there is no project to be publicly discussed and which will gain the broadest support, there will be no development.

The only actions that we wish to implement quickly are the restoration of the site, the accesses, as well as the carrying out of fauna and flora inventories as indicated six months ago already.

"

Before this fight, the Carnet Carnet site was best known to the general public for having been at the heart of a contested nuclear power plant project.

Initiated in 1982 by EDF, the project was abandoned in 1997 after an intense struggle by the local population and environmentalists.

Little frequented by humans, since 2012 it has hosted a prototype wind turbine built by Alstom.

It should be quickly taken apart.

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