Nearly 900 people march in Cambo against a planned housing project on farmland

They are mobilizing to conserve agricultural land. All this weekend, the ground of Marienia in Cambo-les-Bains is occupied. This is where 94 housing units could be built – partly social. A project contested by several organizations and residents. Currently, these 3.7 hectares are considered agricultural land. And some people want them to stay that way. A demonstration was organized to carry this message this Saturday morning in the town. Nearly 900 people paraded to get to the area concerned.

A large number of organizations mobilized

This mobilization is done at the call of several collectives and unions; agriculture in particular since in the procession we find representatives of the Young Farmers or the FDSEA in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The Basque union LAB, or the Lurzaindia collective, also called for people to come together.

Residents of Cambo and the region also joined the procession on Saturday. As well as elected officials. Those of the municipal opposition, but also former members of the majority, “set aside” for their support for opponents of the project. They chose to leave their original group because of a disagreement on the vision of land, real estate. The mayor of Cambo, in fact, supports the housing construction project in Marienia. It must be said that in the Basque Country, access to real estate is obviously an issue, especially access to social housing, which is often not sufficient. These missing accommodations, the demonstrators of this Saturday believe that they can be found within the very heart of the existing buildings in the municipality – unoccupied housing, or short-term rental. A preferable solution to the nibbling of agricultural land, they believe.

A mobilization that continues

To make their disagreement heard, the opponents of the real estate project have occupied the land of Marienia since Friday evening. Tents are installed, a marquee too. Moreover, it is quite a symbol: it is a marquee already deployed on the ZAD (area to be defended) of Our Lady of the Landes near Nantes. It was brought by those who fought there, former “zadists” who came to share their experience and provide advice in the Basque Country this Saturday afternoon. Perhaps an example of struggle for those mobilized in Cambo, since the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport construction project was finally abandoned.

Anyway, in Cambo, the opponents do not intend to stop there. “Other events will no doubt take place” believe some, while others are calling for a possible construction site to be blocked if Bouygues were to start it. However, this is relatively unlikely to happen in the coming weeks, since two appeals filed by opponents are being examined. by the courts – one concerns the PLU (the local urban plan) the other concerns the building permit These procedures are not suspensive.