During the security meeting which took place on Tuesday at the prefecture, the planning issue was discussed, with the main theme of illegal construction. The problems encountered by the staff of town planning was also raised by the public prosecutor of Basse-Terre, Jean-Luc Lennon, Yves Paillard, vice-prosecutor near the High Court of Basse-Terre and the prefect Sylvie Feucher.
Vice-Prosecutor Paillard justified the presence in the court of town planning staff who come to testify, because they are there to explain the rules of town planning specific to the Community. "We wanted to say it," he says, "these personnel are the object of mistrust, of insults, because they collaborate with justice. They are present as experts to explain to the court how the rule was broken. These people are just doing their job and don't have to be pressured or threatened. ”
It is useless to stigmatize agents, repeats Yves Paillard, "request a building permit, respect the land use plan, the natural risk prevention plan, that is part of the rules to be observed, which apply to all and which will be applied to all ”.
Prosecutor Lennon speaks when asked what he thinks of town planning officers, who are on the ground and summoned, by some members of the Collectivity, not to go and check, as well by cronyism, because there are family ties or for electoral purposes… “We are obviously aware of this (…) As a prosecutor, I find it totally deplorable that the town planning service is entrusted to the Collectivity. It should be a sovereign competence belonging to the State. You cannot be judge and party ”. Officers face difficulties "because they are between a rock and a hard place", while asserting, "our role is to process the minutes. We see for ourselves a number of things, but we cannot do everything. This is also what I had the opportunity to say to the President of the Collective; the Law, nothing but the Law… And everyone must do their job ”.
The State replaces the Collectivity
The problem of illegal constructions "is a showdown", according to prosecutor Lennon, because "when a construction comes out of the ground, the principle for those who build irregularly is to finish it as quickly as possible". The magistrate recognizes that the procedure should take place at the start of the work, “but if the procedure does not reach us, we cannot do it. It means that the State is doing its job to replace, at one point, the Collectivity, when it could have been done before ”. And to affirm that if it had been a competence of the State, "there is no doubt that things would have been done in a much shorter period".
"We are trying to do these procedures too," says prefect Sylvie Feucher, "the DEAL (Department of the Environment, Planning and Housing) is on all fronts; the environment, town planning, waste, etc. This service does the job, but it cannot do everyone's job. ” Prosecutor Lennon closed the chapter on town planning by repeating, "I regret that the State is obliged to replace the failings of the Community"._RM
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