Toulouse-Blagnac: what future for the airport?
The State launches its “States General of the airport”. The prefect Etienne Guyot delivers to La Dépêche du Midi, in exclusivity, the outlines of the “workshop of the territories” which he will launch, with the Ministry of Ecological Transition, a vast reflection with elected officials, decision-makers, citizens, on the future of the area around Toulouse-Blagnac airport.
“Where to build housing? What type of public transport to recommend? How to preserve agricultural and natural areas? How to reconcile the constraints of the environment, noise and zero artificialization of soils and preserve a pleasant living environment” in the vast surrounding area of the airport platform, which includes the Meett (“the most modern exhibition center in France”), the Purpan Hospital Center or the Zénith?
These are the questions that the Prefect of the Occitanie region and of the Haute-Garonne department invites us to reflect on by launching, with the agreement of the Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, “a process of collective reflection”, with elected officials. , decision-makers, citizens, associations, via thematic meetings, which will take place over several months. The “States General of the airport”, of which the prefect Etienne Guyot delivered the main lines, exclusively, to La Dépêche.
“By the end of the year”
This “workshop of the territories”, for which Etienne Guyot received a positive reception from the president of the Region, Carole Delga, the president of the Department, Georges Méric, and the president of Toulouse Métropole, Jean-Luc Moudenc, should “be launched from “here the end of the year”. A work plan will be defined and a steering committee appointed. “It is about anticipating the future evolution of this area which has been transformed and developed in the last 15 or 20 years and which is of local, departmental, regional, national and even international interest around the 4th French airport. , which receives 9 million passengers (before the Covid) and which is also, at the same time, an industrial site with the head office of Airbus ”, entrusted to us the prefect of the region.
“I thought that this type of approach, which has existed since 2006 and has been applied to around a hundred sites in France, was ideal for the airport area,” continues Etienne Guyot.
Prefect Etienne Guyot (center) on the airport tarmac during a Covid transfer in April 2020.
“With a multidisciplinary team”
“The Minister for the Ecological Transition just gave me her consent last week. A multidisciplinary team of specialists, town planners, sociologists, geographers, ecologists, mobility experts, economists … will offer its help, without preconceived ideas, to local actors, in order to reflect collectively on all the issues and themes “.
One year of work, outside the election period
Based on existing projects, enriched by contributions made during successive workshops, this approach will lead to roadmaps for communities and for the State. “When the State-Region and State-Metropolis plan contracts are finalized, it will also rely on financial resources”, explains Etienne Guyot. The workshop will have to take into account the electoral periods of 2022, “during which the work will have to continue, but which will not be conducive to decision-making. In the end, an overall duration of the workshops of 10 to 12 months is included, starting from the launch session which will take place in a few weeks, ”according to the prefecture.
“A collective reflection without taboos. Nothing is written in advance”
“The idea is to anticipate future developments and to arrive at shared, convergent and mutually compatible roadmaps, in an intellectually impartial and honest approach. We are really there in the challenges of ecological transition and in a win-win logic with all the partners, inhabitants, users or farmers “, continues Etienne Guyot. “Nothing is written in advance. It will be a reflection without taboos, on all subjects, housing – which is the first of the insertions -, air and land noise, mobility, nature … and without leadership”, adds the first representative of the State in the Occitanie region and the Haute-Garonne department.
For Etienne Guyot, there is “a page to write” all together. To be continued.
