France/Bastia town council wants to make agriculture a vector of the local economy
The town council of Bastia met this Tuesday, July 6th, to debate the new planning and development project (PADD) of the town which will constitute a working basis for the new Local Urbanism Plan (PLU). In a second step, the town councillors approved a development plan for peri-urban agriculture in Bastia.
The town's planning and development project (PADD), that is to say the beginnings of Bastia's new local urban plan (PLU), was invited to the town council this Tuesday 6th July. This 38-page political orientation document contains the ambitions of the municipality for the structuring of the city over the next ten years with several objectives including those of making Bastia an attractive, dynamic, united and respectful city of its environment.To do so, many projects elaborated by Paul Tieri, town councillor in charge of sustainable development and and strategic planning, and by Christophe Laval, director of urbanism in Bastia, have been presented to the communal assembly.
Inventing agriculture in Bastia
The municipality intends to make agriculture in Bastia a vector of the local economy by adding 786 agricultural hectares to the 110 hectares of strategic agricultural spaces already present in the Padduc. The city will thus have the power to manage the land (communal and private) in order to support the installation of at least 5 farmers. This will also be done through the creation of an authorized landowners' association (AFPA).
The objective here is to revive agricultural and rural activity through the development of the olive grove, the chestnut grove, but also the forage production land.This project also aims to consolidate and install in the city economic actors (agricultural, pastoral, crafts...) as well as to develop complementary activities such as hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, agritourism and to maintain hunting activities.
Limitingthe surface area of large areas
In the PADD we also find the thorny and much debated question of the port of Bastia with a declared political will to develop port activities. However, this plan being only a working basis, none of the three options put on the table (extension of the present port, relocation to the carbonite or Portu Novu) has been decided upon. This is moreover what the opposition councillor, Julien Morganti, reproaches : "We regret that we still do not have a position from the Town Hall on the new port".
In order to maintain the attractiveness of the town centre, this project provides for the introduction of a commercial right of pre-emption for young people wishing to set up their business. In the same vein, it lays the foundations for a limitation of the surface area of large commercial surfaces on the outskirts of the city. Food markets could also see the light of day on the heights of Bastia, in the Fort Lacroix district as well as in Lupinu.
In terms of health, the PADD includes the ambition of a new hospital in Bastia. But the document does not stipulate where it will be established. This is also a reproach formulated by the opposition and its councillor Hélène Salge.
Concerning culture, the project foresees among other things the complete renovation of the municipal theatre but also of the Henri-Tomasi conservatory as well as improvements to the Sant'Angelo theatre.
If the mayor of Bastia, Pierre Savelli, wishes to underline the work of Paul Tieri and the agents, hailing "a project of which I am particularly proud", the opposition's criticisms have been heard. Jean-Martin Mondoloni questioned the financing of the projects contained in the PADD: "It is a document that delivers laudable ambitions. But behind these stated and claimed ambitions, the question of financing arises," he said. For his part, Julien Morganti raises a "compilation of good intentions, rather than a real framework for urban planning". He also regrets " axes of reflection rather than axes of action" as well as a "gap between the speech and the acts".
Source: www.corsenetinfos.corsica
