the Council of State authorizes the resumption of the development
It’s an early Christmas present, from justice, for the local public development company Les Portes du Tarn. No later than Wednesday, December 14, the Council of State authorized the resumption of development of this business area located along the highway, between Toulouse and Albi.
“A positive decision which allows the resumption of the implementation of the compensatory measures (installation of meadows, planting of hedges, monitoring of the measures put in place, etc.) relating to the development of the business park by the SPLA This judgment also allows the resumption in 2023 of the servicing work initiated at the end of 2021, in strict compliance with the environmental schedule. to carry out the marketing of the 108 hectares of the area located astride the municipalities of Saint-Sulpice-la-Ponte (Tarn) and Buzet-sur-Tarn (Haute-Garonne).
For the record, on January 24, two groups of opponents, Saint Sulpice Active et Citoyenne and France Nature Environnement, filed a request for interim relief against the prefectural decree authorizing the start of work on the park of activities at the Portes du Tarn. The administrative court of Toulouse went in the direction of the opponents by pronouncing, in mid-February, the immediate cessation of all development operations in progress in the area, pending a judgment on the merits of the case. The SPLA and the State appealed against this decision in cassation, to the Council of State, which has therefore just rendered its decision.
Soon a hydrogen production point?
Given the highest court in the country, this umpteenth procedure against the project on the part of opponents should be closed. Despite everything, the SPLA wants to reassure about these intentions. “All of these projects, in progress and to come, are in line with the will
not to create XXL logistics centers in the business park», recalls the company headed by Valérie Laumond.
While the area currently has 150 jobs, notably provided by Vinovalie, the long-term ambition is to have around 2,200 jobs in the area by combining shops, services, industries and logistics activities.
“Pending the next legal deadlines, the SPLA is continuing its marketing missions. A reservation contract was notably signed with the company H2V last August, with a view to setting up its hydrogen production site project renewable on the park”.
This company has the ambition to install a green hydrogen production plant with a capacity of 100 megawatts. Around their future green hydrogen plant, H2V would like to attract an ecosystem dedicated to the hydrogen sector, but also to establish collaborations with surrounding companies such as the hydrogen bus manufacturer Safra based in Albi, which has recently unveiled a new model.
But all this could only materialize in 2028 or even 2029, a deadline would appear for the opening of this future industrial site which could eventually employ around 70 people, after an investment of 150 million euros from H2V.