In Charente-Maritime, the mayor, the wind turbines and the 44 million euro dispute

Approved by prefectural decree on October 18, 2019, the Chênaies Hautes park was to be created in three municipalities near La Rochelle, including Puyrolland, at the initiative of the French subsidiary of the German group Windstrom which has already planted more than 470 masts in Europe.

These lands of the Vals de Saintonge, highly prized by the industry, concentrated 15% of the wind turbines of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in 2023.

But there are still none in Puyrolland, which means that this village of 200 inhabitants and its fifty or so owners are being summoned to civil court in Saintes, where a procedural hearing is being held on Wednesday - the substance of the case will not yet be addressed.

The German group denounces the municipality's refusal to grant the necessary road permits for transporting the seven wind turbines, 180 meters high at the blade tip, to the plots where they are to be installed.

Through this "action to open up access", WindStrom hopes to obtain easements of passage; failing that, it is claiming some 44 million euros to compensate for its "damage related to the delay in the execution of the project", which it estimates at around 6,5 million euros per year.

"Their goal is to scare the residents," criticizes Olivier Chambord, one of the lawyers for the municipality.

The German group also took legal action in the administrative courts, but to no avail: on December 4, the Bordeaux Administrative Court of Appeal, ruling in summary proceedings, rejected its appeal.

"War of attrition"

WindStrom has filed an appeal with the Council of State, François Versini-Campinchi, one of the company's lawyers, told AFP, adding that he "did not wish to comment on an ongoing case".

"They are launching a war of attrition," laments François Drageon, another councilor from Puyrolland.

"We are fighting against much stronger opponents than ourselves," says Thierry Giraud, the independent mayor since 1995, who was initially drawn to the developer's proposal.

"They were the ones who approached us. Before coming to the town hall, they had already gone to see the owners of plots, often farmers, who see it as a source of income" in these territories where "rural misery" reigns, explains this farmer by profession.

In 2016, the 58-year-old elected official had thus signed with the developer "a promise of lease and easement", according to the decision of the CAA, to allow the construction of the park, in exchange for concessions: aid to renovate the village church, financing of energy vouchers for the inhabitants...

"Except that nothing concrete happened (...) We were not thrilled to have [wind turbines], so we didn't want the sacrifice to be in vain. So we asked them to make an effort. Their response was the court," the mayor says.

"Small town halls are lacking resources."

"They first talked to us about feasibility studies. Then we had to say 'Amen' to everything. There was a strong-arm tactic," adds Patrick Beslin, president of the Puyrolland land consolidation association, which represents 200 owners, including those summoned to court.

This long-standing issue prompted Thierry Giraud to seek a sixth term in March.

"I cannot let this matter drop. We cannot wipe our feet on rural areas as if they were a doormat. Small town halls are powerless against these developers," he argues.

"We don't throw ten years of work in the trash because a community has decided to change its mind. If we allow that, tomorrow we won't be able to do a single project," Windstrom's lawyer retorted in Libération in the fall.

"We hope for a happy outcome," concluded the mayor, who said he had asked for help, in vain, from the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) and the State.

The AMF, which regrets the decline in "mayors' power to act on these projects", assured AFP that it had exchanged views with the elected official and his lawyer on "the relevance of the defense strategy" envisaged by the municipality, but without intervening in the legal phase, "in accordance with its usual practice".