- Former member of the socialist party, this close friend of Benoit Hamon created the surprise in the fifth commune of metropolitan Bordeaux, by leaving the centrist Jacques Mangon.
- The new mayor of Bordeaux Pierre Hurmic has announced that he does not want the extension of the tramway to Saint-Médard, but Stéphane Delpeyrat intends to fight on this issue.
- It will also defend better service to the Aeroparc activity area, and the transition of the metropolis to public management for water management.
When he got into the municipal race at Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, he was promised an assured defeat. Even a "beating". But Stéphane Delpeyrat-Vincent presents himself as a "political fighter": "I learned this from Henri Emmanuelli", his mentor, whom he had long known during his Landes years, during which he was mayor of the village of Saint-Aubin (500 inhabitants).
A leftist activist, he married an environmentalist 11 years ago, before marrying the whole cause. Ex-president of the socialist group at the regional council of New Aquitaine, this close friend of Benoit Hamon had left the socialist party in 2018, "when things went wrong with M.Valls", to join the Generation.s movement. Became director of cabinet of Andréa Kiss in Haillan, he settled in the neighboring town of Saint-Médard, where he therefore ended up reversing the trend in this town owned by the centrist Jacques Mangon since 2014, notably in favor of an alliance with the citizen rally led by Cécile Marenzoni.
With 52.46%, he thus became mayor of the fifth municipality (30,000 inhabitants) of the agglomeration, and now intends to influence the choices of the metropolis, especially on the question of water. "In the Landes, I fought so that more a private company does not manage water" he warns.
20 Minutes questioned him the day after his official election as mayor.
Among the hot files that await you, at the top of the list is that of the extension of the tramway to Saint-Médard. The new mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, clearly said that he did not want it, referring to a waste of money. You defend it, even if you present a different project from that desired by your predecessor. What do you say about this sensitive issue?
The service that was planned by Jacques Mangon, namely a tram terminus in the center of Saint-Médard, seems excessive to me financially and not very operational, because that would create a monumental mess in Saint-Médard. So we want to extend it, but not less than that, to the city gates. And I think that we should think as much about an extension of line D from Eysines Cantinolle, as an extension of line A which stops today at Haillan. The current estimate of the project is 100 million euros, I think we can save around 15 to 20 million euros, and with the money saved we are proposing the extension of the High Level Bus project service (BHNS) to the western districts of the city, and to put the package on the service of the Aeroparc activity area.
Can this tram file be a hard point between you and M.Hurmic?
Yes. I will discuss it with M.Hurmic quietly. I know him, he is a friend, there is no problem, but I think he should review his position, and in any case not make such peremptory statements without having had a prior discussion . I am willing to discuss modifications, but I will not accept that there is a complete questioning of the tram to Saint-Médard. We should stop considering that the northwest quadrant is too far to benefit from public transport. And we cannot be asked to have economic activities, which by the way largely finance the transport of Bordeaux Métropole, and then explain to us that our projects are too expensive.
What will happen now is the election of the president of the metropolis. Between Pierre Hurmic who wants to stop with co-management and the mayor of Mérignac Alain Anziani who wants to continue, how do you stand?
As a member of Generation. s, I am both environmentalist and socialist, so I have no reason to make a choice a priori between the two. What I see is that there has been a choice in the main cities of the metropolis, for an environmental and social majority, so I find that the debate starts rather badly with peremptory statements. It would be useful if all the metropolitan delegates of the left environmentalists meet quickly enough, and work out together a project for the metropolis, which answers the vote of the municipal ones. After, we will see who is a candidate, it is relatively secondary.
But in your opinion, should we continue with the co-management system or not?
The problem is more complicated than co-management or not. What is important is to respect the choice of voters. We have the responsibility to build a project and a majority, of the left and environmentalist, without compromising on certain questions like that of public water management. But it must be done without sectarianism, that is to say that one should not mistreat colleagues who have been legitimately elected, as in Pessac, Talence or Villenave d'Ornon (where mayors of the right or of the center have been elected), because in France we are in an indirect system, that is to say that democratic legitimacy comes from the vote of the municipal.
The results in Saint-Médard
I think a lot of mayors can find themselves around the values that we carry, however if some do not find it, that they find it too green or too left, at that time they will not participate in the executive.
Is there a front of the mayors of the northwest quadrant of the metropolis that is being set up, to weigh more on the decisions of the metropolis?
We have a political proximity with the mayors of Haillan, Eysines, Mérignac, so it is normal that there is a form of rapprochement, and we have common concerns. I think that the metropolis is too centralized, and that there is a more decentralized cooperation to set up, perhaps by geographic sectors with quite different issues.
We must also get out of the spirit of bell towers and municipal selfishness, this is why I propose to my colleagues in the northwest quadrant, a meeting to tackle the problem of the area of activity of the '' Aeroparc and connections to the airport. This is where jobs are concentrated, and this is where traffic difficulties arise, so we have to find intelligent solutions together to decongest this economic lung.
(Photo credit by Stéphane Delpeyrat-Vincent: au.33.fr)
Municipal
Municipal elections in Bordeaux: Without agreement on the co-management of the metropolis, "one would have to be crazy to want to be president"
Municipal
Municipal elections in Bordeaux: Painfully elected, the new mayor Pierre Hurmic announces "the state of climate emergency"
- Aquitaine
- Bordeaux
- Pierre Hurmic
- Tram
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