Initiated in 2016, the project to extend the Portes de Bretagne 2 business park, in Servon-sur-Vilaine, is still mobilizing its opponents. The community of municipalities, the Pays de Châteaugiron Community, supports this project. A group of residents, STOP PAPB2 and the peasant confederation called this Saturday, January 29, 2022 for a mobilization against the future industrial zone. They fear in particular an alteration of agricultural land and biodiversity.
This new business area should accommodate several companies by 2024 along the Rennes-Paris dual carriageway. Member of the STOP PAPB2 collective and elected member of the opposition in Servon-sur-Vilaine, Damien Gentilleau denounces the lack of information around this project, and in particular on these future companies. “Is it the food industry knowing that the water needs are considerable? Is it again logistics knowing that there are already problems of traffic congestion? We still do not know what type of companies will come to settle here“, regrets Damien Gentilleau. The president of the Pays de Châteaugiron Community Dominique Denieul assures that “the number of companies is not stopped today“because the project is not yet finished.
Respond to a lack of space
This industrial project consists of an extension of a first business park hosting several companies that are already water-intensive. Among these companies already established along the 4 lanes, we find in particular Bridor and Celsius. According to the community of municipalities, carrier of the project, this future extension must meet a strong demand. “Many companies have already contacted us to be able to relocate local companies“, “several dozen companies are looking for land to be able to redevelop their premises and production tools“, explains Dominique Denieul. However, the community of communes of Châteaugiron is facing a real problem: “It has no land available on the structuring axes“. For the chosen one, “Servon-sur-Vilaine is fortunate to be served by a train station, so companies are interested in being in this sector“.
Nuisances already felt
This industrial project consists of an extension of a first business park hosting several companies that are already water-intensive. Among these companies already established along the 4 lanes, we find in particular Bridor and Celsius. According to the community of municipalities, carrier of the project, this future extension must meet a strong demand.
“We must respond to the activity and the economy that exist in the territory, otherwise if it is not in the Pays de Châteaugiron, it will be next door
To be able to accommodate these companies, the project must extend over 27 hectares, currently occupied by agricultural land. The peasant confederation points to an increasingly important urbanization of the soil: “It’s a continuous nibbling“, laments Simon Le Huger, farmer in Noyal-sur-Vilaine and member of the peasant confederation. For this breeder of organic dairy cows, “over the past ten years, the municipality of Servon-sur-Vilaine has already urbanized 35 hectares, Domloup 37 hectares, Noyal-sur-Vilaine 46 hectares, Cesson 51 hectares, it’s huge and it never stops“.
For the STOP PAPB2 collective, the extension of the Portes de Bretagne 2 would reinforce the nuisances already felt by the residents of the business park: “Following the installation of new sheds less than a year ago, local residents are already experiencing nuisance in terms of noise and vibration“, assures Damien Gentilleau. Other nuisances have been identified by the collective, such as “the flow of trucks which will inevitably increase if we extend over such a surface, and it can also be the congestion of the 4 lanes“.
The president of the community of communes affirms for his part that the environmental issue is taken into account in the development of the future industrial zone. “After environmental studies, we removed part of the perimeter “and reduced the project from 30 to 27 hectares“, maintains Dominique Denieul.
Keep farmland
The community of municipalities highlights on its website an extension for the benefit of the “economic dynamism of the territory“. But for Damien Gentilleau other alternative projects are possible. The STOP PAPB2 collective and the peasant confederation are campaigning for the project decided by the Pays de Châteaugiron community to be replaced by another project maintaining all the agricultural land. “It can be a market gardening project, knowing that there are needs for the canteens of the surrounding municipalities, it can be groups of producers“, proposes the elected municipal official. However, he assures that none of these proposals could be discussed with the inhabitants or the community of municipalities.
“The inhabitants were little consulted on this project”
“There was a first project presentation meeting, and a second called “Participatory Information”, where it was difficult to see the participatory side“, criticizes Damien Gentilleau. The elected official would like a real consultation to be put in place between the inhabitants, the farmers of the surroundings and the community of communes.
“After environmental studies, part of the perimeter was removed“and reduced the project from 30 to 27 hectares, supports Dominique Denieul. The president of the community of communes specifies that certain companies will not be able to be authorized to set up in the future park of activities, “especially companies that may have large water needs” because “the sector is already tense“. He affirms that the environmental issue is well taken into account in the development project: “Bocage will be kept in its entirety“, for example. “In the development of the project, there were important wetlands in terms of water quality and biodiversity and we removed them from the perimeter and it is a farmer who will recover these areas.“, concludes Dominique Denieul.