The Sea Effect hut will be able to open its doors this summer. The Association of residents and friends of the Grand Travers and the Grande-Motte environment association had filed an appeal before the administrative court of Montpellier, in order to cancel the authorizations for building permits for straw huts during the next two summer seasons. For associations, private beaches endanger the remarkable areas of La Motte du Couchant and the beaches of Grand and Petit Travers, in La Grande-Motte and Mauguio-Carnon.
However, “the period for judging an action for annulment against a building permit is approximately two years”, explain the environmental defense associations in a press release co-signed with their lawyer. “The situation would therefore have led the annulment judge to rule on the illegality of these permits, after they had produced their full effects. “The Hérault associations have therefore filed a summary-suspension appeal in parallel “in order to suspend the legal effects of one of the building permits granted [à l’Effet Mer], the time that the judge of the cancellation decides. »
No “irreversible or difficult to reverse modification of the site”
The judge in chambers dismissed the associations, considering that the conditions were not met to justify urgent action. The decision on the merits should not take place, at the usual rate of justice, before 2025. According to the associations, the rejection of these summary-suspension appeals does not call into question the illegality of the straw huts “By judgments of September 30 2021 and July 13, 2022, the administrative court of Montpellier ruled that the straw huts located in these remarkable spaces were illegal, ”they recall.
The town of La Grande-Motte has a completely different vision of this ordinance. “The interim judge fully followed the arguments developed by the city lawyer (…) considering that the general interest attaching to the realization of the project justified the rejection of the request”, considers the community. This permit, which had been granted after a favorable opinion from the prefect of Hérault, does not entail, for the judge, any “irreversible or difficult to reverse modification of the site” and this “both from the point of view of the construction itself and of its immediate environment as well as the traffic conditions in the vicinity”.
“This ordinance in no way affects the mobilization” of the associations
The municipality of La Grande-Motte “is committed to maintaining the activity of beach concessions as the issues for the territory are multiple. For years, the latter have been providers of local jobs, actors in short circuits and a source of attractiveness and significant influence for the municipality,” specifies the municipality.
For the next legal step, we will have to wait until 2025, even if the associations hope that the action for annulment will be judged more quickly. “This ordinance in no way affects our mobilization against these illegal installations and creates a very serious precedent for the protection of remarkable spaces. We will therefore write to this effect to the Prime Minister and we will do our utmost to ensure that the action for annulment is judged, as soon as possible. »