- Faced with a real lack of pool per inhabitant, Lille needs a new pool.
- If all the candidates agree on this point, the location of the future equipment crystallizes the tensions.
- Favoring a project on the wasteland of Saint-Sauveur, the outgoing mayor Martine Aubry was unanimously opposed to it by the other candidates.
It is one of the rare subjects which is unanimous in this campaign. In Lille, all municipal candidates agree that there is a lack of a swimming pool worthy of the name in the city or at least in the metropolis. “We have fewer pools per capita in the metropolitan area and in the region compared to the rest of France. There is a real deficit on this side ”, recognizes Arnaud Deslandes running mate on the list“ Lille in common, Lille in confidence ”and responsible for the municipal campaign of Martine Aubry.
A lack that is clearly starting to be felt in educational establishments according to the rebellious Julien Poix “There are schools that have fewer slots and suddenly there is a decline in the practice of swimming in Lille. Having a swimming pool is a real need, ”says the head of the“ Decide for Lille ”list.
A lack of Olympic swimming pool
Today in the capital of Flanders, only the Lille-Sud swimming pool, opened in 2016, is modern. The pools located at Fives, Hellemmes and Les Bois Blancs, where Marx Dormoy, the largest swimming pool in the city, is located, are all obsolete. “In 2003, when a plan was put in place for sports infrastructures, the project to build an Olympic swimming pool in the city was identified. This plan fell through, ”regrets the ecologist Stéphane Baly, head of the Lille Verte 2020 list.
So much for the observation and the crash of the decor. However, a state-of-the-art and ultra-modern Olympic swimming pool with indoor and outdoor pools, diving pit and water games should normally emerge from the ground in Saint-Sauveur in the coming years. Except that this metropolitan project of 78.5 million euros (funded 70% by MEL and 30% by the city of Lille) supported by Martine Aubry makes absolutely jump all its opponents.
Opponents wind up against the Saint-Sauveur project
The reason: the installation of this aquatic complex but also of housing and shops on a 23 hectare wasteland located near the ring road. Described for ecological reasons, several appeals have been filed before the administrative court against this project provisionally at a standstill due to a moratorium.
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“We will make a project of balance between built and non-built. And then, you should know that 80% of the wasteland of this wasteland is already concreted to a meter deep, “defends Arnaud Deslandes. Except that it is not only the environment that is singled out.
The Marx Dormoy alternative
“To want to put a whole part of money of the sports policy on the Saint Sauveur site seems to me to be really missing the plate. It makes no sense, ”tackles Marc-Philippe Daubresse, head of the list (LR) for“ Notre partie, c'est Lille ”.
Thomas Werquin, running mate of "Make Lille breathe" led by Violette Spillebout (LREM), does not want this location close to the ring road: "We are in a sector of Lille which is hyper congested, hyper saturated. So there is a real question of location. "
It therefore remains to be seen where to install a possible alternative project in Saint-Sauveur. For many candidates, the site is already found: that of Marx Dormoy. where the largest swimming pool in the city is already located. If certain candidates like Marc-Philippe Daubresse or Julien Poix want to renovate and remove asbestos from the equipment, the mission seems impossible according to Stéphane Baly.
A new swimming pool not necessarily in Lille
“Marx Dormoy already costs the city a million euros a year in operating costs. In addition, renovating it would take at least three years. However, we cannot afford today in Lille to deprive ourselves of existing basins ”, explains the head of the list of Lille Verte 2020.
For green people, the solution would therefore be to build a new Olympic swimming pool ... right next to that of Marx Dormoy. Same idea with Marc-Philippe Daubresse who wants to create a large nautical pole around this site located just next to the Deûle and the Citadel. A pole that is also found in the program of Violette Spillebout.
Other candidates like Eric Cattelin-Denu do not rule out a third way by installing the new complex outside Lille. "Can't we find another municipality and avoid having everything concentrated in the same place for traffic reasons?" It is necessary to reflect on a new establishment, “says the head of the RN list.
Fives-Cail, a project already in the cards
And if it is the Olympic swimming pool that concentrates the looks and the proposals, other pools are in the cards like that of Fives-Cail where a 25-meter pool should see the light of day after 2026. A project which the Greens would like speed up construction "We want to create a territorial network so as not to kill the nearby swimming pools, which would be the case if the Saint-Sauveur swimmers' factory were created," assures Stéphane Baly.
Whatever happens, a brand new basin should see the light of day in Lille or in the metropolis during the next municipal mandate. But its location could well be the subject of great discussions after the first round and a possible merger of lists. The Alsatian swimming pool did not stop animating the debates.
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