The inadequacy of the environmental impact study, when it leads to the cancellation of a building permit, makes it possible to request demolition like any violation of town planning rules or public utility easements.
Any person who invokes damage can request the demolition of a building built in a protected area when a lack of knowledge of town planning rules or public utility easements has caused the cancellation of the building permit, reminded the Court of cassation.
Contrary to what a wind turbine builder claimed, there is no hierarchy in these rules to observe in order to obtain a building permit. And the indigence of the environmental impact study is not a secondary fault, the judges have essentially explained.
However, according to the law, the building under discussion must be located in a particularly protected natural or cultural heritage area (remarkable sites, coastal strip, national park, registered or classified site, near historical monuments, etc.).
The builder maintained that his permit had only been canceled for an insufficient environmental impact study, which was not a lack of knowledge of town planning or easement rules, which are linked to land use regulations such as that they result from the different zonings.
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The Court of Cassation found him wrong. The insufficiency of the environmental impact study has an impact on the administrative decision to issue the building permit and it is indeed the ignorance of a rule likely to justify a demolition, in compensation for the damage caused to others, under the rules of civil liability.
(Cass. Civ 3, 11.1.2023, H 21-19.778).
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