In Paris, the cancellation of building permits above the ring road is confirmed

Europe 1 with AFP 9:55 p.m., October 06, 2022

The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed on Thursday the cancellation of building permits issued for buildings on slabs covering the ring road near Porte Maillot in Paris.

For the three associations at the initiative of the procedure, it is a "victory" which will have "repercussions on all the projects planned along the ring road and in the polluted areas", reacted to AFP Christine Nedelec , president of France Nature Environnement (FNE) Paris, one of them.

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The court considers "that the displacement of pollutants from automobile traffic at the entrance and exit of the tunnels created by the projects will lead, in particular, to an increase in the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the surroundings", and that “None of the techniques envisaged by the builders appears likely to limit pollution and mitigate the resulting risks,” she said in a press release.

illegal permits 

The mayor of Paris had issued two building permits for office, residential and commercial buildings on slabs covering the ring road near Porte Maillot: one to SNC Paris Ternes Villiers, on March 29, 2019, the other to the civil construction-sale company Mille Arbres, on August 30, 2019.

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The two permits had been canceled by two judgments of the Paris administrative court of July 2, 2021, following appeals from, in particular, environmental protection associations.

The court ruled these permits illegal, given the risk to public health associated with air pollution.

The City “takes note of the decision” 

By two judgments, Thursday, the administrative court of appeal confirms the judgments, rejecting the appeals of the City of Paris and the companies Paris Ternes Villiers and Mille Arbres.

The City "takes note of this decision", reacted for AFP the cabinet of the first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire, who "will take the time, in the weeks to come, to see the follow-up to be given" to this file.

The deputy (PS) for town planning must deal with environmental allies who disagree with the projects inherited from his predecessor Jean-Louis Missika, particularly around the ring road (Bruneseau, Bercy, Montreuil, Tour Triangle, etc.) that the mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to transform into an "urban boulevard".

The device "hazardous to health" 

In July, the Council of Paris undertook to re-examine urban projects around and above the ring road, thus rallying environmentalists who were calling for a moratorium on construction located less than 150 meters away.

"What this judgment says" on Porte Maillot, "is that we cannot build in areas that are too polluted," said EELV adviser Emile Meunier, contacted by AFP.

The ring road "is dangerous for health", he insisted, calling on the government to "accelerate its transformation" into an urban boulevard.

Earlier Thursday, elected communists and Parisian ecologists had opposed during a press point on the project of the Porte de Montreuil, inhospitable entrance to the capital where the City wants to develop a pedestrian and green esplanade, but also build offices.