• Despite the decision of the administrative court of appeal to condemn the Dordogne department to a penalty payment for lack of demolition of the work started, the community is not giving up.

  • While the site was suspended in 2018, the Department requested a new authorization request to carry out the road bypass, from the prefecture.

  • Supporters say they want to decongest and secure Beynac;

    the opponents, supported in particular by Stéphane Bern, claim to defend the site and the environment.

It's a case that never ends.

Justice ordered the demolition of the site six months ago and it should have started before Saturday, under penalty of financial penalties, but the Dordogne department has not given up on building the Beynac-et-Cazenac road deviation.

On July 7, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Bordeaux seemed to have sealed the fate of this file which has inflamed local spirits for thirty years.

She had condemned the community to pay a fine of 3,000 euros per day for failing to start the demolition work within six months;

then 5,000 euros per day if it was not completed within one year.

The department remains determined

But the Dordogne departmental council, determined to carry out this road bypass of about three kilometers, filed a new authorization request with the prefecture in the fall.

The latter requested additional information and on December 23, the Department withdrew its request to resubmit another one soon, indicate the two parties.

“We will submit to the prefect, in mid-February, a complete file.

Afterwards, the State will have four months to say whether it is admissible or not, ”said Germinal Peiro, socialist president of the community.



Since the 1990s, against a backdrop of old political rivalries, anti and pro-deviation clash over the advisability of bypassing this village of 500 inhabitants, ranked among the most beautiful in France and very popular with tourists, with its medieval castle perched on a cliff overlooking the Dordogne.

Supporters say they want to decongest and secure Beynac;

the opponents, supported in particular by Stéphane Bern, claim to defend the site and the environment.

“Demolishing is almost more complicated than building”

The construction site had started in 2018 before being legally cancelled.

But the bridge piers built in the bed of the river, which the future diversion was to span, are still there.

The opponents intend to take legal action quickly because the liquidation of the penalty payments requires a new decision... which the community will be able to appeal.

“When you have piles in the middle of a river, demolishing them without harming protected species, as we are asked to do, requires resources.

Demolishing is almost more complicated than building”, considers Germinal Peiro.

The Department has provisioned in its 2023 budget enough to pay one year of penalty payments, i.e. approximately 1.5 million euros.

“I hope that we will not have to do it if our new project is declared admissible”, concludes the former deputy.

His opponents accuse him of "amusing the gallery with illusory communications and influence peddling of all kinds" and say they are "very confident" about the outcome of the case.

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VIDEO.

Dordogne: "People hate each other" ... The Beynac diversion project divides an entire village

Bordeaux

Beynac road diversion in Dordogne: "We are in the middle of the match", estimates the president of the department, carrier of the project

  • Company

  • Justice

  • Aquitaine

  • Stephane Bern

  • Road

  • Town

  • Inheritance