• The sand quarries installed in Saint-Colomban (Loire-Atlantique) aspire to expand in the coming years.

  • A project contested by some residents who say they are opposed to "concreteization and the unlimited exploitation of sand, which devastates the north of the town".

They want to denounce the "concreteization and unlimited exploitation of sand, which devastates the north of the town". All weekend long, opponents of the Saint-Colomban sandpit extension project (Loire-Atlantique) have planned a demonstration and a large gathering in which between 1,000 and 3,000 people could participate. In their sights, the expansion by 2023 of around sixty hectares of the quarries of GSM and Lafarge. Established for more than twenty years in this town south of Nantes, these companies extract the material, which is then used for construction, public facilities, or even agriculture.

For some gathered in the association La tête dans le sable, opponents fear both this extension and its consequences for the territory, chosen by these quarrymen for its favorable geology.

“The sand is not an infinite resource, we believe that it must be preserved, estimates Sylvain Jallot, member of the collective.

The other problem is that it promotes industrial market gardening, and therefore the disappearance of human-sized farms in the territory.

"Falling water levels", "endangered biodiversity", "soil artificialization" ... The environmental effects of this activity would also be numerous, according to these residents.

An “essential” extension to meet the needs of the territory

On the side of project leaders, the reading is obviously different. "We are already committed to controlling any environmental impacts, beyond legal obligations," assures Maxime Ross-Carre, land and environment manager at GSM. But we have been monitoring the waterways monthly for 24 years, and this aspect has been mastered. For biodiversity, studies have shown that it is certainly different from the surrounding land but that it is very rich. "

According to him, the extension of the site, which currently extracts 300,000 tonnes of sand per year and employs ten people, is now essential for its sustainability. “We respond to local needs, which are expressed throughout the south of Loire-Atlantique and the north of Vendée, continues Maxime Ross-Carre. However, the quarry has a limited capacity, we will reach the end of it in a few years. "

Faced with "legitimate" questions, GSM ensures that the contours of the project are not yet tied and that "the discussion is underway with all stakeholders who wish".

Opponents, including the Confédération paysanne and several environmental associations, see it rather as "pressure" from industrialists who, according to them, would try to bypass the territorial coherence scheme (SCOT), a text which ensures the preservation of all perennial agricultural zones defined there.

The head in the sand announces besides that it will not hesitate to fight the project on the legal level.

But she "formally denies" the installation of a ZAD at the end of the rally, while an operation to block the site is announced for Monday.

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