It is a battle that has lasted for nearly 10 years between a farmer and the town hall of Divatte-sur-Loire, on the border between Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire. A battle around four paths that are in the middle of its exploitation to know to whom they belong and who therefore has the right to use them. The municipality believes that it is her and she wants to open them up to hiking. The farmer believes that it is him and that if he is forced to close them, he risks losing everything. The case is in the hands of the courts.
– Marion Fersing
very old paths
And she is complex. Because at the start, it is not clear who owns these paths. A very long time ago, they made it possible to pass between the different farms. And then they got bigger. These paths have gradually been eaten away by fields and meadows, where they were then only used by farmers to transport their animals and their tractors.
Who owns these paths?
Until 2013, when the town hall of Barbechat (which has since merged with its neighbors to become Divatte-sur-Loire), decided to identify them to regularize everything. It was necessary to determine which depended on the municipality and which depended on a private owner. Among all these paths, four are problematic. They were first awarded to the farmer we are talking about, Olivier Suteau, before the town hall of Barbechat reconsidered its decision and considered that they were its responsibility.
– Marion Fersing
arm wrestling
Since, the procedures follow one another and nobody lets go with on the one hand the new municipality of Divatte-sur-Loire which wishes to make hiking trails and, on the other, Olivier Suteau who fears that it will lead to his suckler cow farm to his loss.
The fear that the exploitation will no longer be profitable
Indeed, if these paths are open to walkers, they should be closed. The cows and calves of Olivier Suteau “will no longer be able to go from one meadow to another, nor access certain water points”. He estimates that he will no longer be able to use up to 30 hectares of his land, “all this for impassable paths, which lead nowhere”. And without these meadows, he will have to reorganize your operation, by reducing, for example, the number of animals he raises, which makes him fear that it is no longer profitable.
– Marion Fersing
The only farmer with whom it blocked was Mr. Suteau
The Mayor of Divatte-sur-Loire, Christelle Braud, presents the case in a completely different way. “After the census of these paths, agreements were established with the farmers and the only one with whom it blocked was Mr. Suteau, on the pretext that the paths, by use and by history, were not rural roads (which therefore depend on the municipality, editor’s note) but farm roads, that he was therefore in his right, that it was his property”. The municipality considers itself to be the owner of these paths.
Every time we summon him to reopen these paths, he obstructs them more
Since then, the legal proceedings have been linked, until then against the farmer. “And every time we summon him to reopen these paths, he obstructs them more”, assures the elected official. “By stones, by digging, by barbed wire…”
He braces himself, we brace ourselves
And today, the dialogue is completely broken. “From the moment when he makes the choice not to want to discuss on the basis of the principle that it is at his place and that he does what he wants, I am not sure that we want, today , to discuss with him. He braces himself, we brace ourselves”, asserts Christelle Braud. Olivier Suteau assures the opposite, that it is the town hall which closes its door to him.
A farm large enough to find other solutions
As for the issue of the sustainability of operations? The mayor of Divatte-sur-Loire ensures thatThere are solutions : a system of gates to allow cows to cross fenced paths for example “and he has a farm large enough to find other solutions”. Once again, false answers Olivier Suteau, who explains that he must fight for its exploitation to be viable in a sector where he cannot do anything other than livestock.
Court decision in a few days
The administrative court is due to render its decision on January 21. In the meantime, Olivier Suteau has launched an online petition. And the case is therefore not over. The farmer and the town hall are already considering new remedies and no one seems ready to let go.