A petition is making noise in the municipalities of Neau and Brée, to the east of the department of Mayenne. It aims toe fight against a road bypass project by the north of Montsûrs. This five-kilometer road would remove five level crossings, one in the town of Neau (which is indicated as a priority), four in Brée, deemed accident-prone. An obsolete project for its opponents.
An online petition
“In fact, the road, it would pass on my land, in the most beautiful plots of my equestrian center, deplores Cécile Bérault, the manager of the Haras des centaures, in Brée. We have the road which will then pass right in the middle of the bridleways.” It was she who put the petition online in November, it now brings together nearly 300 signatures. “It will destroy kilometers of bocage hedges, it will cause the loss of agricultural land, a whole bunch of farmers. It will pass through a wetland. And then, it should be noted that here, we are in a Natura 2000 zone. , which is to say that we are supposed to take care and maintain the pollard trees. It will destroy them.” An administrative appeal was also filed by another association.
60 hectares of artificial soils in the heart of the Natura 2000 zone
For these opponents, it is a project from another time. “This project was motivated at the time by the passage of many TGVs through the town, explains Pierre Labrosse, deputy mayor of Neau. Today, no more TGV passes by here. And there are still a total of six passing TERs and a few freight trains. So we don’t need this road trip anymore!”. And they also denounce a real ecological disaster: 60 hectares of land will be artificializedin the heart of the Natura 2000 zone. A project against which the mayor of Brée, Claude Garnier, is also mobilizing.
A 46 million euro project
This project should cost 46 million euros. But José Dard, the mayor of Neau, has been defending it for years. For him, what must not be forgotten is what he will eliminate level crossings. “The closure of these five level crossings has been scheduled for quite some time, defend the aedile. There is a declaration of public utility, given the fact that they are accident-prone! For me, it is very important!”. An argument that Cécile Bérault does not understand. “They try to make us believe that it is indeed a project to secure level crossings, indicates the director of the equestrian center. Admittedly, there is one that has a bit of a drop. You can see when you pass it, it is uncomfortable. We would put 500,000 jobs into it and that would make it perfectly secure and completely efficient.” This road will also make it possible to pass more quickly between Evron and Laval. The mayor also highlights that trucks will more easily take this road, rather than going through the two municipalities.
Normally, the State should support 50 of the cost of the works. But for nowthe elect have no confirmation that this half will be well paid.