A breeder from Saint-Aubin-en-Bray, in the Oise, was ordered on appeal to pay 102,000 euros in damages to neighbors who complained about the noise and smell of his cows since the expansion of his farm located in the heart of the village (AFP/Archives/Sameer Al-DOUMY)
A breeder from Saint-Aubin-en-Bray (Oise) was ordered on appeal to pay 102,000 euros in damages to neighbors, who complained about the noise and smell of his cows since the expansion of his farm located in the heart of the village.
The Court of Appeal of Amiens confirmed Tuesday evening a decision of the court of Beauvais of 2018, which had recognized, in first instance, the “abnormal neighborhood disturbances”.
“I am disappointed, it is a great feeling of injustice”, reacted Vincent Verschuere, 33-year-old farmer, for whom this trial was “the last chance”. “I don’t have this money in my account. It means the end of my operation”.
The trial was closely followed by the agricultural world, fearing that it would set a precedent in the disputes between local residents and farmers.
The Pays de Bray, with its hilly pastures and its farms historically located in the center of the villages, is an important breeding area.
“We are in shock at this very bad sign given to the production of milk and meat”, says the vice-president of the FNSEA, Luc Smessaert, himself a dairy farmer in the Oise.
“It’s a family farm, which had made a big effort to integrate the landscape. We can’t say + We have to eat local + and block the activity of our campaigns”, he says, calling for the development of charters of good neighborhood to preserve living together.
The legal fight between this breeder of 260 cattle and a group of nine residents has been going on for more than 10 years.
In 2010, Vincent Verschuere invested 600,000 euros to expand his farm, located in the heart of the village, by building two sheds, including a stall, with an area of 2,800 m2.
He had obtained a prefectural derogation, the sheds being less than 100 m from the first dwellings.
Residents complaining of olfactory and noise pollution took the case to court and obtained the cancellation of its building permit in 2013.
“The building housing the cattle (…) has a complete facade open to the outside, which does not allow any real insulation against the diffusion of odors and noise”, indicate the judges in the judgment delivered on Tuesday.
The Court of Appeal does not order the demolition of the sheds, but asks the breeder to find “technical solutions” within three months to reduce the nuisance.
“That means removing the animals from the sheds,” says Vincent Verschuere. “So I won’t be able to work anymore.”
During the hearing on January 4, the lawyer for the residents, Me Bruno Paviot, had denounced an industrial farm.
The breeder’s lawyer, Me Sandra Palmas, had asked the judges to stay the proceedings, pending the decrees of the law of January 2021 on the protection of the “sensory heritage of the French countryside”.
© 2022 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
