Stop the French government allowing a quarry in an area of outstanding beauty.
The Prefect of the Var is about to make a decision on opening a quarry that will destroy a beautiful, tranquil natural environment, causing noise, dust, pollution and the destruction of breeding habitats for many rare species of flora and fauna.
A private individual wants to exploit an ancient disused quarry in an area of outstanding beauty, near where I live in Provence, in the South of France. The quarry would be to extract stone for building, and would be solely for his profit. It would create a maximum of 2 jobs, so is of no real benefit to the community.
The site is in a beautiful, completely tranquil, forested rural area, and forms the view for many local houses. Not only would this quarry leave a massive scar on the hillside, utterly devastating the view, it would create noise, dust and pollution which would affect the whole local community.
A tiny rural road, called Chemin des Girards, leads to this quarry. It is single track and ends at a lovely tiny hamlet, called Hameau des Girards. The Chemin is made up of a couple of centimeters of tarmac on a stoney base and has no passing places. It is completely unsuitable for any heavy traffic. This Chemin has had a vehicule weight limit of 5.5 tonnes for over 30 years, and yet this quarry application requires the use of 26 tonne trucks.
It follows a beautiful stream bed along which there are many rare species of flora and fauna. The man who wants to exploit the quarry proposes to widen the chemin in parts to allow passing places, which would destroy the habitat for these rare species.
The main road these huge lorries would have to use is very narrow and sinuous with lots of blind and difficult turnings. Lorgues is a huge college and school centre and many of the school children from surrounding towns and villages travel to and from school on scooters on this road. The constant toll of these lorries carrying their loads to the depot in a neighbouring town would represent a real danger, especially to these vulnerable drivers.
There has been a public enquiry into the feasibility of this quarry, which studied the pros and cons in detail. The commissioner of the enquiry, who visited the proposed site and the local homes that would be directly affected, concluded that it should NOT go ahead. The Mayor of our town, Lorgues, and all the town councillors voted against it, as did another local town. The DREAL, the French department for the environment, recently recommended against the quarry.
However, some bureaucrats from a government committee for quarries, which includes the DREAL, who have probably never even seen the Chemin or proposed site, have given it their approval, despite the findings of the public enquiry and the existing weight limit on the road leading to it. The final decision rests with The Prefect of the Var.
Time is running out. Please help us to influence The Prefect of the Var to say NO to the quarry, to say NO to the profit of one individual against a whole community and to say NO to the ruin of a natural haven for birds, bats, insects and plants.
Please sign our petition to stop the quarry.
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