President LR of the regional council announced the exit from his territory from a process aimed at stopping the concreteization of soils by 2050. Except that local authorities cannot escape this law.
A sensational announcement… which will not be acted upon? The President of the Republicans of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, announced on Saturday September 30 the exit from his territory of “zero net artificialization” (ZAN), a legal system which aims to stop the concreteization of soils in 2050. “I refuse to allow the decisions of elected officials to build in rural areas to be put under cover. The decisions taken by technocracy, I say stop. Our region is therefore withdrawing from the process and we are asking the minister to review her copy”, said Laurent Wauquiez in front of the members of the Association of Rural Mayors of France (AMRF), gathered at a conference in Alpe d’Huez (Isère). A statement greeted with applause. But can Laurent Wauquiez really exempt his region from the implementation of this measure?
In any case, his comments made the government jump. “Laurent Wauquiez cannot exempt himself from the law, it applies to everyone. He cannot take the easy option by refusing to take his part in the ecological transition of our country and by playing the territories against each other. others”, reacted on (ex- Twitter) Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition. “If he does not respect the law, I hope that there will indeed be sanctions”for his part declared Olivier Véran, government spokesperson, Sunday on BFMTV.
Land use planning
“This declaration has no legal meaning. He must submit to the law of the Republic”confirms Arnaud Gossé, lawyer specializing in environmental law. “The president of a regional council does not have the competence to intervene, modify or amend the law” relating to the application of the ZAN system, recalls David Dokhan, public law lawyer at the DM-avocats firm. Article 72 of the Constitution provides that local authorities administer themselves freely, but “under the conditions provided for by law”.
This objective of “zero net artificialization” in 2050 was included in the Climate and Resilience law, adopted in August 2021. It first requires local authorities to reduce by 50%, by 2031, the rate of artificialization of soils and consumption of natural, agricultural and forest areas. Then to achieve a balance between artificialized and renatured surfaces by 2050. In response to protests from local elected officials, the ZAN was however the subject of a new law, promulgated at the end of July, aimed at making the system more flexible and facilitating its application.
But how is this national objective, enshrined in law, transposed to the territorial scale? The regions must set an objective for reducing land concretization through their planning document: the regional plan for planning, sustainable development and territorial equality (Sraddet). This document defines land use planning in various areas: environment, housing, town planning, transport, energy, etc.
“A political blow in the water”
First there is consultation with various local and state authorities, as well as the public. Once adopted by deliberation by the regional council and approved by the regional prefect by order, this document has a prescriptive value with regard to other planning documents of other local authorities, such as local town planning plans. It is on this procedure that Laurent Wauquiez intends to play.
Contacted by franceinfo, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region confirms that it intends to “suspend the work of Sraddet”. In a letter sent Monday October 2 to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and which Franceinfo was able to consult, Laurent Wauquiez explains having followed all the steps to apply the ZAN system. But he deplores that the law at the end of July came “change the rules of the game”. “I therefore wish to suspend the procedure for modifying the Sraddet and no longer engage the region in this process until the conditions for success are established”he declares.
“It is not a question of not respecting the law. What it is a question of is hearing the voice of elected officials and local stakeholders.”
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regionat franceinfo
Laurent Wauquiez “trying to bet on a change in the law”, analyzes lawyer David Dokhan. The regional president wishes “give yourself time to provoke a national political debate in order to put pressure on Parliament”, with the hope of modifying the July law, agrees Jean-Baptiste Duclercq, lawyer and lecturer in public law at Paris-Saclay University. Jump that “it’s a political blow in the waterhe believes. The desired change in the law has almost no chance of succeeding.”
A risk of annulment before the courts
Because, like all other regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has until November 22, 2024 to finalize its regional development plan. Beyond this legal deadline set by the law at the end of July, the regional prefect may decide not to approve the plan as it stands, in order to control its legality. If the prefecture approves a plan that does not comply with the law, the administrative court can contact the administrative court and cancel it.
Another LR regional president, Xavier Bertrand, has already paid the price at the beginning of February. Fiercely opposed to wind turbines, the boss of Hauts-de-France voted for a regional plan favoring the development of other renewable energies, despite the law on the subject, which favors the development of solar and wind power at the level national. Seized by the France Energie Eolienne association (FEE), which brings together professionals in the sector, the administrative court of Lille partially annulled the Sraddet des Hauts-de-France, on the grounds that it “does not include any justification for the absence of an onshore wind development objective”. The region appealed.
What happens if the regional plan is not adopted on time? “If the Sraddet is not modified or revised within the deadline, the law will be directly imposed on local planning documents”thanks to a “safety provided” in the Climate and Resilience law, explains Jean-François Giacuzzo, professor of public law at Toulouse Capitole University.
The translation of “deep discomfort”
With his criticism of the legislative developments of the ZAN system, Laurent Wauquiez becomes “in his own way, the spokesperson for the deep unease felt with regard to the complexity of town planning law, and the difficulty of territories to locally translate what is decided at central level”analyzes Jean-François Giacuzzo. “For a good cause, local authorities and their elected representatives must be efficient and move quickly, while the legislation is very technical and unstable. Thus, a local urban planning plan (PLU), the development of which costs several dozen, or even hundreds of thousands of euros, has barely been adopted when it is no longer up to date”, he illustrates.
In addition to being changeable, the legislation can lack clarity. This is particularly the case for implementing decrees, which guide communities in applying the law. By a decision taken on Wednesday October 4, the Council of State censored a provision of the second ZAN decree on the grounds that“it did not include the necessary details” on the identification of artificialized areas. On the other hand, it validated, on the same day, an implementing decree of April 29, 2022 setting the objectives for reducing artificialization at the regional level.