Eplessier divides around the installation of traffic lights. This village of less than 400 inhabitants, next to Poix-de-Picardie, saw four lights appear on Monday, October 10, installed around the main street. The town thus wants to reduce the speed of cars on the departmental road which crosses the village. But the restaurant “La Cuisine de Papet”, the only business in the village, like other residents, believe that another solution should have been found, in consultation with the population. Some have also launched a petition, which was sent to the prefecture of the Somme.
“We invite people to revive the villages and today, they break me,” says the restaurateur
At La Cuisine de Papet, we are alarmed: how to receive deliveries? And above all, how will the regulars do? “They won’t come anymore! dreads Philippe Vermesse, the restaurateur. 3/4 of my clientele are elderly people, who come with walkers. This fire will penalize us“, he judges, he who relaunched this business after 13 years of closure.
The people of the village and the elders were happy to find life, a bond in this village
More parking at the door of the establishment, it could also mean less take-out sales. The manager, Isabelle Vermesse, fears for the future of what she calls the place of life of Eplessier: “The people of the village and the elders were happy to find life, a bond in this village, she explains, but it was without counting on arbitrary decisions. When we bought [en 2020]there was no question of limiting parking spaces“. Her spouse abounds: “We invite people to bring the villages back to life: by buying this building, a former bar in ruins, I gave myself body and soul to the work. And today, I am broken. Why go and break up the only business in the village? I only see the pleasure of breaking“, concludes Philippe Vermersse, very moved.
The town hall indicates that it is studying the construction of new parking lots
The restaurateurs, like the residents of these fires, claim to be in favor of slowing down vehicles but not in this way. All also point to the noise of vehicles stationary at traffic lights. The slowdown project was discussed at a municipal council meeting before the summer. But the mayor of Eplessier Patricia Rimbault explains that she took advantage of work in progress to install the lights: “We should have communicated moreconcedes the elected. But we seized the opportunity of the work to bury the network, we decided between the three solutions that were offered to us, and we chose the lights, on the advice of the Department in particular, to secure the crossing of the departmental road. Especially since there are children, who cross this road every day to go to school on the other side of the village.“.
Of the other two options, there was an elevated area at 30 km/h “but it seems to me that it was worse, with the passage of tractors, buses which would be made noisy. And parking would be even less easy in an elevated areadetails the mayor of Eplessier. And then the narrowing of the roadway in this place would not bring more parking.”
To facilitate parking for the restaurant, the town hall of Eplessier indicates that it is studying the possibility of drawing new parking lots on the departmental road, close to the restaurant. Patricia Rimbaut also indicates that the car parks of the town hall and the village hall are free and about fifty meters from the restaurant.
The lights should be in service by the weekend. Total cost: 68,000 euros for these four lights, including 38,000 euros at the expense of the municipality.