Straddling the departments of Haute-Garonne and Tarn, between Toulouse and Albi, the Portes du Tarn concerted development zone (ZAC) project is increasingly contested. Opponents have planned to demonstrate there on Sunday, February 6. Already on Thursday, around twenty activists from ANV-COP21 (Nonviolent Action-COP21) Toulouse, Attac, Extinction Rebellion, the Reapers and inhabitants of the Saint-Sulpice collective together were firmly evacuated by the gendarmes. At dawn, they had blocked the site started the previous week, located in Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe (Tarn), about thirty kilometers from Toulouse.
Everyone fears the arrival of an e-commerce giant in this 195-hectare area, declared of public utility in 2014, then revised in 2018 by highlighting a “industrial ecology approach, a pilot site from an environmental point of view”, can we read on the site of the SPLA (local public development company), project manager on behalf of the Tarn department and several communities of municipalities. For Valérie Laumond, its director, who calls herself “very surprised by this occupation, the business park constitutes an opportunity for economic development for the territory and the surrounding municipalities”. The SPLA hopes for 2,200 jobs by 2042.
In the crosshairs of opponents, the so-called Terra 2 project, a logistics warehouse 530 meters long, 70,000 square meters on twelve hectares of agricultural land to be artificialized. And not connected to the railway line as originally envisioned. The 2018 public survey makes it possible to accommodate an e-commerce company there, which would generate the movements of 250 to 300 heavy goods vehicles per day.
The Portes du Tarn and the department ensure that this company is not Amazon, while refusing to give the name of the company interested in these warehouses.
“Danger for local businesses”
Sylvain Plunian, opposition municipal councilor (various left) in Saint-Sulpice and member of the Stop Terra 2 collective, highlights “the danger for small local businesses of such a platform, and above all the exorbitant cost of the work in the area, estimated at 88 million euros”.
Since its launch in 2010, the ZAC has attracted on its site only the headquarters of Vinovalie – a large wine cooperative –, a petrol station and two restaurants. The SPLA replies that the launch of this second phase of work will include “a center reserved for services, leisure, shops and catering areas for companies”. But also “as part of a circular economy approach, optimized waste management, a public passenger transport network, soft connections for pedestrians and cyclists and a carpooling area”. The overall project also mentions the planting of 40,000 trees, the creation of two wetlands and the sanctuary of 8.5 hectares.
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