Construction of hotels or tourist residences, the development of a road to a natural site, the installation of a ski lift, the extension of a ski area… A few years ago, in the resorts of skiing in the Alps, these projects would have passed like letters in the mail. Today, they divide the inhabitants – between those who want to continue to develop the mountain for skiing and tourism, and those who would like to put a stop to this wave, which has brought wealth to an entire region.
More and more associations are challenging development projects carried out by elected officials in court, and are winning their cases. In the space of a month, the ski resorts of Alpe-d’Huez (Isère) and Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie) each had their town planning plan challenged by the Grenoble administrative court. It also canceled a chairlift project in Aussois (Savoie) on March 5.
The Alpe-d’Huez plan, which included the construction of three hotels and two tourist residences (2,400 beds), was simply canceled. In question, a “insufficient environmental assessment”, of the “inconsistencies” on the need for new tourist beds, and a lack of resources devoted to the renovation of existing accommodation.
That of Grand-Bornand, on the other hand, is only “suspended”. Among the points raised by the public rapporteur is the impact of tourist projects on water resources, in a resort heavily dependent on snow cannons. “In the space of four years, water consumption linked to artificial snow alone has increased by 53%, and now exceeds drinking water consumption”notes magistrate Emilie Akoun.
The tone was set in 2023, during a decision that caused a stir: the cancellation, on May 30, 2023, of the Maurienne territorial coherence plan, a document voted by sixty-two Savoyard municipalities, including twenty- four stations (Valloire, Valmeinier, Saint-Jean-d’Arves, Valfréjus, etc.). This roadmap provided for the extension of ski areas, and the construction of 22,800 tourist beds, including a 1,000-bed Club Med in Valloire.
“Tipping point”
With these decisions, an entire philosophy, based on the expansion of ski areas and the growth of tourist construction, is called into question. A shock for these resorts, which believe that they need these constructions to finance an increasingly expensive system – falling number of skiers, rising energy costs, increasing use of snow cannons – and to compensate the growing share of their “cold beds” – apartments occupied less than four weeks per year.
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