Haro on concreting: the Assembly returns its copy to reassure the mayors

The solemn vote at the end of the afternoon on this Senate bill should be favorable after a smooth examination last week. The way would thus be opened for the next tight negotiations with the Senate with a right-wing majority.

The deputies have indeed reworked several points of the text adopted in mid-March by the senators. Under the impetus in particular of the government, also anxious to respond to the grumbling of local elected officials, but which refuses to question the course of "zero net artificialisation of soils" (ZAN).

Behind this acronym, from the 2021 Climate Law, a two-step objective: to halve by 2031 the consumption of natural and agricultural areas compared to the previous decade then, by 2050, no longer concrete floors unless "renaturing" equivalent surfaces.

If there is a consensus on the need to curb artificialisation, which destroys biodiversity and is a factor of global warming, the implementation arouses the discontent of local elected officials, worried about being deprived of a decisive lever for their economic development. and the creation of housing.

Hence this text, initiated in the Senate by Jean-Baptiste Blanc (LR) and Valérie Létard (centrist), in order to facilitate the task of mayors. But which opened the door "too widely" to urban sprawl, according to the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu.

Arm wrestling

At the baton for the government on this sensitive issue, Mr. Béchu obtained several changes to the text in the Assembly.

Exit for example an article which aimed to make non-binding for the municipalities the objectives of reducing the rate of artificialization set by the regions. Ditto for another softening the definition of "non-artificialized" surfaces, including for example residential lawns.

These articles no longer appear in the version of the text submitted to the vote of the Assembly and the government has undertaken to deal with these points in decrees.

On one of the key measures, the Assembly maintained the principle of a separate count of artificial soils for "national-scale projects", such as high-speed rail lines. The objective being that they do not eat into the concreting envelopes allocated to their host regions.

But the deputies have created a "package" of 15.000 hectares for these major projects, subtracted from the envelope of 125.000 ha artificialisables fixed for the whole country for the decade. The overall objective for 2031 therefore remains unchanged. And there would remain a balance of 110.000 ha to be broken down between the regions.

As Mr. Béchu wished, it is provided in the text of the Assembly that even projects stamped "green industry" are counted in the fixed price of 15.000 ha.

This bodes well for a standoff with the senators: they voted last Thursday to exclude them from ZAN objectives, during the examination of a green industry bill.

"Demagogic"

“There will certainly still be convergences to be found” with the senators in the joint joint committee (CMP), agreed on Friday Christophe Béchu.

Among the key measures of the text, the Assembly maintained another measure of "flexibility" wanted by the Senate: a "right to build" of at least one hectare per municipality.

The deputies however specified that this “rural guarantee” would be reserved for “sparse” or “very sparse” municipalities, and covered by an inter-municipal urban plan. It would be "mutualizable" with other municipalities.

Ecologists have castigated a "demagogic" measure, not making the difference between virtuous municipalities and those who have excessively artificialized. Despite "significant improvements compared to the Senate", the green group announced on Tuesday that it would abstain.

The deputies Les Républicains (LR) and Rassemblement national (RN) tried in vain to exclude the municipalities from the ZAN objectives under certain population thresholds.

The LR group will still vote in favor of the text, its boss Olivier Marleix said on Tuesday, welcoming the "rural guarantee". But it will be "with very moderate enthusiasm", he added, repeating his hostility to the "concept of ZAN" which "sentences the rural world to death and medium-sized towns to glaciation".