In Audenge, on the edge of the lagoon, it was Pierre Laboudigue’s dream: to build a house on one level, on building land purchased in 2017. “When I bought my land, there were no houses around it,” he remembers. But when the work began a few months ago, it was a cold shower. The town hall informs him that his land is ultimately not buildable. His land, bought for 100,000 euros, is only worth 5,000. “It puts my whole life project in the air. I have ten years of credit, I pay 700 euros every month… I work to pay for land that is worth nothing!”
He is not the only one. Gérard Caubet, another owner, estimates that he lost 750,000 euros by buying three buildable lots… which have since ceased to be. “It’s awful,” he confides, referring to “sleepless nights, depressions, a whole life of savings and work called into question…”
To justify these lands which have suddenly become unbuildable, the town hall invokes the Littoral law. A law that since 1986 prohibits building outside already urbanized areas. “I am all for the coastal law!” assures Gérard Caubet. “Simply I would have liked to be warned that this law applied to these lands before buying them! The coastal law has applied since 1986, and the town hall knows it perfectly. These sectors should never have been buildable.”
And yet, subdivisions have flourished all over the town for ten years. Why did the town hall authorize them despite the coastal law, before radically changing its position? The mayor of Audenge, who refused our interview requests, sends the responsibility to the prefecture by email: “until 2020, the State services systematically validated town planning decisions (…) Overnight, the town hall was refused town planning applications by these same State services.“The prefecture reminds that it is the responsibility of the mayors to issue building permits in accordance with the law.
In addition to the financial losses, this administrative mishmash has consequences on the environment according to Bruno Hubert, of the association Audenge Citoyenne. For him the damage is done: he denounces irreversible damage to the landscapes. “We have ten years of inaction in view of the coastal law and we are not going to replant trees, the landscape is ruined.”
Several legal actions have already been initiated. By owners for the loss of value of their land, and associations for the years of damage caused to the environment.
“In the name of the coastal law, construction sites in the Arcachon basin are silting up”, Marianne Enault, The Sunday newspaperMay 22, 2022
Environmental coordination of the Arcachon basin
Local urban plan of Audenge
Non-exhaustive list.