Delimitation of areas close to the shore, reduction in helicopter traffic: the City of Ramatuelle goes it alone on the Territorial Coherence Plan

A lone fighter tainted by the image of the ugly duckling during his multiple alerts to the community council. Without support from his peers in the community of communes, the mayor of Ramatuelle, Roland Bruno, turns to his elected officials. He requests their support for his disagreement regarding elements of the revision of the Territorial Coherence Plan (SCoT), aimed at organizing " an efficient and harmonious development " of the Gulf.

At the last city council meeting, the mayor submitted the opinion on this project to a vote, as required by the regulatory process. A rather hefty resolution that requires amendments to the text.

Redefinition of urban planning rules

On the first point, the municipality criticizes the demarcation of areas close to the shore. It considers this border " too far from the shore in certain parts of the territory." This line can sometimes extend several kilometers inland and " would have a serious impact on the agricultural development potential of the territory ." Therefore, the chief magistrate proposes correcting the boundary when it is more than a kilometer from the coast.

The second amendment concerns the calculation basis for extensions to existing buildings. The document specifies that they must be contained " within a maximum limit of 30% of the floor area and have no negative impact on the landscape." However, according to the chief magistrate, this notion takes into account habitable spaces in the basement, which are particularly useful for adapting to climate change and are invisible. Roland Bruno therefore proposes replacing the 30% with " a principle of moderate expansion ."

His opponent, Bruno Goethals, is critical and considers this proposal vague: " In our local urban planning scheme, we put percentages everywhere, when it comes from outside, we ask for a moderate expansion. This cannot stand, it will end up in litigation."

1900 helicopter flights

But the major segment that prompted a pause in the deliberations and the presentation of an analysis to elected officials concerned helicopter traffic in the Gulf. The mayor objected to a specific sentence that reflected the territory's future policy: " Helicopter service is organized from a network of helipads and helipads as close as possible to the coastal sector ." According to him, Saint-Tropez and Ramatuelle, given the destination of their customers, " risk having helipads imposed on them ."

Based on a feasibility study carried out in 2010, he explains that such an installation generates " sound emissions of 4 to 10 dB in their environment ", which represents noise pollution but also a danger for local wildlife and the health of the population.

To illustrate the local peculiarity, the chief of staff, Guy Martin, uses figures from the Ciel Calme association in Ramatuelle. In 2024, more than 1,900 aircraft flew over the commune, far ahead of the second most visited, Gassin, with 700 flights. " Not all the communes that vote on the community council support the same weight of helicopters. We understand why they are not interested in the Ramatuelle problem," he points out .

The mayor therefore proposes to contact the prefect in order to " obtain a reasoned opinion on the amendment proposed by the municipality to limit the nuisances."

Risk of incompatibility

Minority member Patrick Gasparini shifts the blame to the assembly president: " Since Pampelonne changed, traffic has significantly increased. This is the result of your decisions. Today we are addressing a problem that you perhaps hadn't considered."

Roland Bruno replied: " The new establishments have been operational since 2019 and this problem already existed long before that."

But beyond the substance, it is the method that his opponent criticizes: " You are presenting us with a fait accompli. If we don't vote for it, we won't have time to reverse it. If the prefect doesn't agree with your corrections, the PLU that we are adopting this evening will not be compatible and inevitably, the prefecture will attack you and perhaps even the associations."

Both members of the minority abstained because of the risk of regulatory conflict.