Nantes-Atlantique airport, June 8, 2020 (illustration).
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L.Venance / AFP
The mayors of Rezé, Bouguenais and Saint-Aignan-de-Grand-Lieu, as well as the deputy Aude Amadou, ask the state to "keep its commitments".
They require the implementation of measures to protect residents exposed to noise pollution.
They also want a cap on air traffic at Nantes-Atlantique.
" Wake up !
We've been waiting three years.
The inhabitants cannot take it any longer.
It's necessary that it moves.
They belong to different political sensibilities but share the same exasperation.
The mayors of Rezé, Bouguenais and Saint-Aignan-de-Grand-Lieu, the three municipalities most exposed to air noise pollution from Nantes-Atlantique airport, spoke on Wednesday alongside MP Aude Amadou, to encourage the State to "keep its commitments", three years after the abandonment of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project.
The State had indeed promised a package of measures intended to protect residents from noise but has since made little progress on the subject.
Local elected officials are thus waiting for the creation of a theoretically mandatory environmental noise prevention plan (PPBE), increased funding for soundproofing aid for housing, the establishment of the right of abandonment for owners resigned to the sale, or even support for trips to the schools of Saint-Aignan-de-Grand-Lieu and the college of Neustrie.
“To govern is to ensure your commitments.
And protecting the population is an emergency, the absolute priority, ”insists Aude Amadou, LREM deputy for Loire-Atlantique.
A cap on air traffic?
The three mayors and the MP also deplore that the “co-construction” promised by the government in 2018 is not there.
“On the choice of the new airport concessionaire, nothing is shared, neither the specifications, nor the schedule.
He should however be appointed at the end of the year ", regrets Jean-Claude Lemasson, mayor (various left) of Saint-Aignan, who also notes that the State does" not comment on air pollution in the sector ".
Jean-Claude Le masson, Aude Amadou, Hervé Neau and Sandra Impériale have come up against the state.
- F. Brenon / 20Minutes
Above all, the four elected officials are calling for air traffic regulation.
At night, with the establishment of a curfew "long demanded", recalls Sandra Impériale, mayor of Bouguenais (various right).
But also during the day with a cap on commercial flights.
“The public declaration for the transfer to Notre-Dame-des-Landes stipulated that the acceptable limit for residents of Nantes-Atlantique was 56,000 movements per year.
I say banco, ”says Jean-Claude Lemasson.
This figure of 56,000 was exceeded three years ago.
In 2019, nearly 70,000 aircraft movements had been recorded.
"The conditions are no longer met today"
It is hard to imagine the State seducing a new concessionaire with the constraint of capped traffic.
But elected officials consider that the crisis in the aviation sector since the appearance of the coronavirus has changed the situation.
“The conditions are no longer met today.
There is an opportunity, ”says Jean-Claude Lemasson.
“We are not against air traffic.
We want it to be efficient, ”explains Hervé Neau, mayor of Rezé (various left).
They invite us to “rethink intermodality”, to give more priority to the train.
"During the confinement, the residents were able to realize how their life was different without the noise of the planes", underlines Sandra Impériale.
Announced by the State, the redevelopment work of Nantes-Atlantique could begin in 2022, after the designation of a new concessionaire.
In addition to transforming the terminal, they plan to lengthen the runway to the south (an additional 400 m).
The goal is to increase traffic to 11 million passengers per year.
It stood at 7.2 million in 2019, then fell to 2.3 million passengers in 2020.
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