New episode in the judicial soap opera of the Saint-Sauveur project. The diving pit resurfaces in the dossier concerning the development of the former freight station in Lille. The president (various right) of the metropolis of Lille (Mel), Damien Castelain, had however publicly announced in October the abandonment of this project in the program of construction of the nautical center in Saint-Sauveur. One more imbroglio in this file that has dragged on for ten years.
It is a sentence, within a memorandum in defense of Mel’s lawyers, which has revived the debate: “Le conseil [communautaire de la Mel] has neither taken note, nor given note, nor decided to abandon the pit. To understand the stakes of this hodgepodge, we have to go back.
“This contract, I did not sign it”
On October 7, 2022, during the Metropolitan Council in Lille, Damien Castelain made a solemn commitment before elected officials regarding the contract for the construction of a future aquatic center on the Saint-Sauveur wasteland, as it recalls The voice of the North. “I didn’t sign this contract, so it will be easy for me to abandon the pit project. And so I act here, obviously in agreement with the city of Lille, ”he says.
Originally, this 40 m deep equipment was planned in particular to host the diving event of the 2024 Olympic Games. It failed… and its cost seems to have become too high in relation to its usefulness. What’s more, this pit made the nautical complex project very, even too water-intensive: 17 million liters per year, or a quarter of the entire aquatic complex.
By discarding this controversial installation, Damien Castelain no doubt hoped to appease the undecided and rally them to the vote of deliberation on the public interest of the project. Which was the case. The opposition, itself, had not failed to recognize the “strong gesture” of the president of Mel after his declaration.
Start the process from scratch
But for the Aspi association, which is fighting against the establishment of this nautical center deemed “disproportionate”, this about-turn was not enough. On the contrary, with an appeal still in force at the administrative court, it signaled to justice “a failure to inform the public”. “This modification of the project occurred after the public inquiry. We could therefore consider that the presentation of the project to the citizens was not sincere, hence the risk for Mel, of having to start the process from scratch, ”underlines a spokesperson for Aspi.
Mel’s lawyers did not take this risk, preferring to pass off Damien Castelain as a liar in front of public opinion. “If the abandonment of the diving pit was mentioned by Mr. President (…), the abandonment was not decided, in the absence of some legal acts in this direction (…). Moreover, the elected officials have not proposed any amendment to the declaration of general interest, as the rules of procedure allow, to decide to remove the pit from the project, ”they specify in their brief.
New blur area
The commitment to abandon the pit was therefore only empty words. The diving pit must therefore see the light of day, legally speaking. And whatever the cost, since the president of Mel, himself, had admitted in October, during the same metropolitan council, that he was unable to budget for this project.
One thing is certain, Damien Castelain has put himself in an uncomfortable political situation. What are Mel’s true intentions about this pit? Contacted, she did not respond. And the Saint-Sauveur file to experience a new gray area. Because the Mel and the city of Lille, which also carries the project, are not their first blunder in this file. In October 2021, the administrative court had already canceled it for gross procedural errors.