The mobilization ended up paying. Object of strong local opposition for ten years, the shell sand extraction project in the bay of Lannion (Côtes-d’Armor) has been definitively abandoned by its operator, we learned this Sunday from concordant sources. “On November 4, the Compagnie armoricaine de navigation (CAN) declared to the prefect of Finistère the definitive cessation of mining work on the concession of shelly sands known as Pointe d’Armor in the bay of Lannion”, announced in a press release. Eric Bothorel, LREM deputy for Côtes-d’Armor. “It’s a decision of reason, we had to get out of this file from the top,” he said.
Shell sand is calcareous sand made up of shell debris, which is used to improve agricultural land to reduce its acidity. Filed in 2010 by the CAN, a subsidiary of the Roullier group, this project was strongly criticized by elected officials, environmental associations and groups of professionals in the region, including fishermen.
Authorizations not renewed since 2016
The People of the Trégor Dunes, which brings together dozens of associations, notably denounced a project located “between two Natura 2000 areas”, whose impact on the environment, fauna, flora and employment has not been assessed. “This file is definitively closed. It’s a victory a bit by knockout because they are the ones who give up, we are very satisfied because we have been fighting since 2010. It’s a wise decision because from the start the file was sloppy, “said Alain Bidal , president of the collective of opponents.
In September 2015, Emmanuel Macron, then Minister of the Economy, signed a decree authorizing the extraction of shell sand in the Bay of Lannion. A concession had been granted for a period of 15 years with an extraction volume limited to 250,000 m3 per year, against 400,000 initially envisaged. In the process, the prefects of Côtes-d’Armor and Finistère had published decrees in December allowing the opening of the works, an authorization which had to be renewed each year. The prefects having not renewed these decrees in November 2016 for lack of impact studies, the concession has in fact become obsolete, recalls Alain Bidal.