It is a green setting like there are few in Toulouse: this site will move near the ring road
Through David Saint-Sernin
Published on
It’s a green setting as there are few in the heart of Toulouse. Located near the Port de l’Embouchure, the basin of the Filters allows joggers and walkers to connect the Brienne canal to the Garonne.
Many Toulouse residents, who discovered it during confinement, were able to appreciate the tranquility of the place. They don’t know it, but the Bassin des Filtres had a strategic function in the 19th century.e century.
The Bassin des Filtres, which is made up of two basins, supplies the Lateral Canal with filtered water from the Garonne. The water from the Garonne, arriving via the Brienne canal, was filtered between the two basins thanks to a filter dam. The filtered water was then conveyed under the bridge of the Mouth, via channels.
A coveted site
Without any real strategic function, but still owned by Voie Navigable de France (VNF), this land, located in the municipality of Toulouse, arouses covetousness on the part of developers. Voie Navigable de France has been trying to promote it for several years.
In 2015, the public establishment requested a modification of this area to strengthen constructability and a real estate project. A call for projects had been launched and the elevation of a building intended to accommodate offices on this place classified as a “natural site” was anticipated. Until the summer of 2016, when faced with opposition from the town hall and local residents, VNF had finally indicated that it wanted to resume consultation.
Six demolition permits
More than six years later, Voie Navigable de France (VNF) wants to continue to have the site assessed. The manager just got six demolition permits to raze six chalets located around the basin. The first seven chalets were demolished in 2017.
“We obtained these permits and we are now able to demolish chalets whose construction quality is questionable and some of which have been squatted for several years. Some of them will therefore be demolished. The others welcome the Espoir association and will remain as they are. Those that are demolished will not be rebuilt, which will free up space and open up the Filter Basin and restore some air,” explains Toulouse NewsHenri Bouyssès, director of VNF in the South-West.
As a reminder, these prefabricated wooden chalets, used during the construction of hydroelectric dams, had been relocated to the Bassin des Filtres after the Second World War in order to house the employees of the administration dealing with the management of the waters of the rivers and rivers. For lack of maintenance and upgrading, these pavilions have been degraded.
Reconnect the Basin
In the coming months, in addition to the demolition of some chalets, VNF will work on the entire Bassin des Filtres site, a site where the manager wants to confirm its presence.
As part of the Grand Canal Plan, presented on Friday January 13, 2023, the links with the port of the Embouchure should be improved, announced the project leaders.
A project implemented in the summer of 2023
In addition, VNF is carrying out a study to imagine the future of the three sites it owns in Toulouse: the Filtres basin, therefore, the Saint-Etienne port and the Radoub slipways. A program will be determined for these three sites in the summer of 2023.
A guinguette for two summers
the Filters Basin For the past two seasons, there has been a guinguette in an elegant residence, the “barragiste’s house”, built in 1842, which once housed the officer in charge of monitoring the site’s dams.
The guinguette is named “Gros Arbre” because of the large multi-centennial cedar tree which offers its shade to customers on the terrace.
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