The hot potato could quickly become incandescent, especially during an election period. The inhabitants of the Monteil district, in Pessac, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, learned a few days ago of the existence of a Administrative Detention Center (CRA) on the edge of their residential area, by 2024. The prefecture has launched the first public contracts for the construction of the infrastructure, amounting to 1.2 million euros.
The administrative detention centers (CRA) are intended to accommodate, in a closed place, foreigners in an irregular situation while awaiting a deportation procedure. The legal detention period for foreigners cannot exceed 90 days. The government has announced the construction of three new CRAs in France, including one “in the Bordeaux area”, with a capacity of 140 places, to replace the one currently in the basement of the Bordeaux police station, which is unsuitable .
“Mobilization is very strong”
This new building will be erected “on two vacant lots along Avenue du Bourgailh in Pessac, at exit 13 of the ring road”, indicates the prefecture in a document presenting the project. The first site would house the CRA (administrative building and retention area) as well as an annex to the Bordeaux courthouse. The second site, located on the other side of Avenue du Bourgailh, would be used to create a 120-space car park for staff.
The news spread like wildfire in the neighborhood, whose residents mobilized in record time. A first demonstration took place on Tuesday, and a public meeting is organized this Monday in order to set up a collective. “The Monteil district is 6,000 inhabitants, including 3,000 in this sector alone, warns Jean-Claude Juzan, president of the committee for the defense and celebrations of the Monteil districts. And the mobilization is very strong. »
Not a “political” approach
While CRAs are regularly criticized for retention conditions foreigners who are kept there, the inhabitants do not wish to position themselves in this debate, specifying that their movement “is not political”. They protest against a project “which has nothing to do in a suburban sector”. The main building would be installed on the edge of the Monbalon 1 subdivision, and the car park on the edge of the pavilions of the Village de Madran subdivision.
“For us, continues Jean-Claude Juzan, it is unacceptable in relation to the nuisances that this will record, in particular the destruction of a small wood to make a parking lot, the concreting of the floors, and the volume of vehicles that this will generate in this area, not to mention the noise. Why don’t we do this near the airport, which is generally the case for the other CRAs? There is a real fear on the part of residents of suffering a devaluation of their property. »
In the pipeline since 2019
Jean-Claude Juzan also deplores “the lack of communication” around this project “which has been in the pipeline since 2019, and whose existence we learned of only last Monday! “Even if it is a project piloted by the prefecture, the representative of the inhabitants says he is up against the town hall of Pessac: “It is a denial of democracy, at a time when we are talking about citizen democracy . »
Mayor Franck Raynal (LR) assures that it was “impossible for him to communicate so far”. “I was informed of this project in the spring of 2020, indicates the elected official, but it must be understood that I have no say in this file, I do not give any construction authorization for this land, which belongs to the state. But now that the calls for tenders for the development operations have been launched, nothing is more secret”.
“The prefect confirmed her choice to the mayor of Pessac in writing in March 2021, indicates for its part the prefecture. He recorded this choice in response and had all the information on this choice of site for the needs of exchanges with the population. »
“An urban aberration”
Today, the mayor wishes to “maintain the dialogue with the prefecture” but assures “understanding” the anger of the inhabitants. “We must build a new CRA, okay, but not in the middle of the houses, completes the elected official. This raises issues of security, accessibility, maintaining a bike path in the neighborhood. And the parking lot of the CRA will not even be adjacent to the building, the police officers will have to cross a crossroads on foot. It’s an urban aberration, and I’m afraid it will create unease. »
Franck Raynal, however, assures that he has not “surrendered”. “We have an appointment on Friday in the prefecture on this subject. I think there is still a possibility for another place, says the city councilor. We have to find another solution, it is not acceptable in this place. »
The prefecture confirms this appointment. But does not mention the possibility of relocating the project. “The prefect will receive a delegation of local residents this Friday and will propose to them to ask the questions they wish in dialogue, replied the prefecture to 20 minutes. Issues of urban integration, greening, maintaining the peaceful character of the neighborhood will certainly be addressed and will lead to further development of the project. »
Back to square one
Finding an alternative solution is indeed not easy, the mayor of Pessac is well placed to know, since a first land exchange operation had failed. “At the end of 2020, we had already proposed with the metropolis another site to the prefecture, which was located on the Bioparc, straddling Mérignac and Pessac, and which had the advantage of being closer to the airport, in a sector that is not inhabited, explains Franck Raynal, but the National Council for the Protection of Nature finally declared it unbuildable after finding protected species. »
Back, then, to square one. With the difference that this time, the project is no longer progressing hidden, and will have to face the mobilization of the inhabitants.