The government announces a 24 million euro plan to transform around twenty commercial zones

On Monday, September 11, the government launched a call for projects with a budget of 24 million euros to support the transformation of around twenty commercial zones located at the entrance to towns, symbols of “Peripheral France” and the encroachment of agricultural land. These areas, numbering 1,500 to 1,800, are characterized by wide roads lined with advertising panels, with facades generally made of sheet metal and surrounded by large parking lots.

“These areas are in many ways the embodiment of the twentieth century: that of mass consumption, that of automobiles for all, that of pavilions for everyone”declared the Minister Delegate in charge of SMEs, trade and crafts Olivia Grégoire at Parisian. For merchants, this model has long been “a form of El Dorado”recognized the minister, with stores built sixty years ago “on inexpensive agricultural land, cubic ‘shoe boxes’ built inexpensively”.

A model unsuitable for major ecological issues

But in a world “who realizes his limits, the commercial area has reached his limits”estimated the minister. “We have major ecological challenges, namely how we avoid having buildings that are thermal sieves”declared for his part the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu.

Concretely, project leaders will have to contact the prefectures, which will carry out a pre-selection of files. The Green Industry bill, under discussion in Parliament, should also remove certain regulatory blockages, by making it possible, for example, to deviate from the local urban planning plan or to reduce deadlines.