The administrative court of appeal of Paris invalidated, Thursday, February 10, the local urban plan which allowed to destroy part of the allotments of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) to establish a swimming pool of training for the Olympic Games (OG) of 2024.
In its judgment, the court justified its decision by invoking a “achievement” biodiversity, adding:
“It is enjoined to the president of the public territorial establishment Plaine commune to initiate the procedure of modification of the local plan of inter-municipal urbanism insofar as it classifies in urban zone part of the western fringe of the gardens of the Virtues. »
The intercommunality, led by the mayor of Saint-Denis, the socialist Mathieu Hanotin, has four months to propose a new version, she specified.
In its judgment, the court, which has jurisdiction over disputes surrounding the Olympic projects, recalled that the disputed document presented “inconsistencies” with its own obligations, in particular environmental ones. The future aquatic center has a solarium, which must be built on approximately 4,000 square meters of food plots (whose production is intended for self-consumption).
Legal battle
“There is no immediate consequence on the question of the work, the building permit remains valid. It does not jeopardize the project., reacted Mr. Hanotin, ensuring that Plaine Commune would comply. Asked, the municipality of Aubervilliers declared that it did not wish to react ” at this stage “.
“We always said the project was illegitimate, now it’s illegal. For the first time justice gives us reason by telling them “you have no right to do what you did” »responded Ziad Maalouf, one of the gardeners behind the request.
A legal battle has started around the project. The opponents, who consider it against the current of the ecological emergency, also attacked the building permit and occupied the premises for four months in 2021. Briefly suspended by court decision, the work was finally able to continue. This did not prevent, on February 2, activists from clinging to a concrete mixer until the intervention of the police.
Worth 33 million euros, a third of which is financed by Solideo (the company responsible for delivering the works for the 2024 Games), the aquatic center must serve as a training pool for swimmers during the Olympic Games, before being accessible to the inhabitants.