Residents of the Butte Rouge in Châtenay-Malabry opposed to its transformation

The public inquiry into the transformation of the Butte Rouge in Châtenay-Malabry (Hauts-de-Seine) ended with an overwhelming majority of opinions unfavorable to the project, according to the associations mobilized for this garden city, witness to the heritage worker in the Paris region.

Nearly 87% of unfavorable opinions (residents, associations ...) were recorded concerning the modification of the local urban plan drawn up by the LR town hall of Châtenay, indicated the association Châtenay Patrimoine environnement.

Built from the 30s in a minimalist Bauhaus style to house workers, the Butte Rouge, in the Hauts-de-Seine, has been the subject of a vast rehabilitation plan that has been contested for ten years by town planners.

In a desire for densification, some houses will be destroyed, others raised, enlarged, connected to neighboring houses. According to the town hall, the standards of the 30s are obsolete, the apartments too cramped. And the district, currently made up of 100% social housing where 10.000 people live, must open up to the private sector. "Only 15% of the Butte Rouge (17 buildings out of 233) will be preserved" if the project is approved by the territorial public establishment, denounce the associations.

At the Ministry of Culture, we are assured that the site will be protected, "including, if necessary, by an automatic classification": "from the beginning, we say that it is an exceptional site. in remarkable heritage site (SPR) will protect a certain type of town planning, while respecting the place of nature ". "It is a protection of a whole and not building by building", one specifies.

The town hall was committed, according to the ministry, on an SPR classification in October, but the process is less and less amicable. "We have no news and this is starting to worry us," they add, noting that the prefect wrote to the mayor at the end of December.

Prefectural authorizations will not be given if there is no SPR and "if the mayor is not ready to classify the site, the minister (Roselyne Bachelot) will decide to create an SPR by decree in council of 'State ", we still underline the ministry.

According to Julien Lacaze, president of the Sites and monuments association, "the prefect is in favor of the project, the State is abandoning the Red Butte to developers and the ministry is paying for words by brandishing strong protection. He clearly prefers to support the developers already so active in Greater Paris ".

The public establishment "Vallée Sud Grand Paris" must deliberate within a month on the conclusions of the commissioner-investigator who will have summarized the public inquiry.