Municipalities with less than 2,000 inhabitants must now have street names and numbers. This is one of the novelties of the 3DS decentralization law, published this Tuesday, February 22 in the official journal. In France, 15% of streets are not named. Twice as many in the department of Gironde, which has many small villages. In Soulignac, 400 inhabitants, this lack of address has become a real headache for the population.
“We have become an intelligence agency.”
When Stephanie receives her street sign, she will no longer feel like an intelligence agency. His house is located in the center of the village of Soulignac. This forty-year-old resident has become accustomed to showing the way to wandering passers-by. “It’s usual. There are many people who stop in the square and ask their way”. Not to mention the delivery people. “It is a disaster”. They are always lost”, explains Stéphanie.
Difficulties of access for emergency services
The absence of street names can sometimes have more serious consequences. In his office, the mayor of Soulignac Michel Dulon, takes news of a resident who, for lack of address, has never seen help arrive. “I had a major nosebleed”, says the retiree. “It was Christmas Day and there was nothing to do. The firefighters did not come as there was no address”. This resident got out of it, because a general practitioner took over, but he is worried about this situation.
The post office helps around fifty municipalities in Gironde.
Since then, the mayor has ordered around fifty panels. The municipality will take care of putting them up. For this, they called on La Poste, which offers a specific service. “This is to help municipalities decide on the names that will be given to these streets”explains Abou Diarra, director of the Fargues post office.
The town hall can choose from two types of numbering. The classic: even/odd. In Soulignac, the mayor has chosen a digital numbering. The lane numbers correspond to the distance to be traveled from the beginning of the street. This is a paid service, charged 10,000 euros to the municipality of Soulignac. Over the past two years, La Poste has helped around fifty municipalities to bring themselves up to standard.