A text simplifying town planning rules on the Assembly's agenda

The text, put forward by Harold Huwart, MP for Eure-et-Loir, and supported by the government, proposes to relax the requirements for building permits and planning permission in order to facilitate the emergence of new housing projects.

The bill was adopted (by 119 votes to 28) on first reading, as part of the annual day reserved for the Liot group in the National Assembly.

"The complexity of our standards is today one of the main obstacles to housing production," stressed Housing Minister Valérie Létard at the opening of the debates.

The documents affected by these simplification measures are local urban planning plans (PLU), territorial coherence plans or building permits.

For example, the text approves possible exemptions from the PLU to allow the construction of housing in commercial areas, or student housing in tense areas.

A multi-site development permit is also being rolled out. Currently, a developer wishing to launch an operation with several buildings on non-contiguous plots must apply for a permit for each plot, which represents a significant procedural burden.

This is a "first step" in "a long march to reform the urban planning code," said MP Pierre Pribetich, who spoke on behalf of the Socialist group, which voted in favor, like the rest of the right-wing side of the chamber, including the National Rally.

Only the environmentalists and the Insoumis (Rebellious) opposed it. In their eyes, the text institutionalizes "permanent exceptions" and thus represents a step backwards in terms of democracy and society.

One measure has particularly irritated the public: the possibility of reducing, by way of exception, the percentage of places reserved for the most vulnerable groups in future social housing residences. This is to allow for the temporary accommodation of workers mobilized for industrial projects.

It is "extremely serious" to want to "blame the lack of housing for workers" on "populations in distress," for whom the only alternative "is the street," denounced LFI MP Anaïs Belouassa-Cherifi.