A French court has ordered work to stop on a motorway in the southwest of the country after ruling that it would cause too much environmental damage – despite the fact that €300m has already been spent on its construction.
The road in question is the 53km Autoroute 69 between Toulouse and Castres. It was begun in 2023, and is about 65% finished.
But it became a national cause célèbre owing to its impact on the environment.
There was also criticism of the high tolls that would be charged for using it, and plans to connect local roads to it but to charge for using them.
According to newspaper La Dépêche, the administrative court of Toulouse handed down its decision yesterday.
This was greeted with demonstrations of joy by environmental protesters, cries of a “democratic scandal” from the National Federation of Public Works and an immediate appeal against the “absurd” decision from the Ministry of Transport.
The case will now be considered again by the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal, and a fresh ruling is expected in a few months. The government is requesting that the decision be stayed so that work can continue in the interim.
‘Very limited benefits’
The case was brought by Mona Rousseau, the public rapporteur, on the grounds that gains from autoroute would be outweighed by the damage it would cause to the environment.
Rousseau argued that the road would have only limited economic benefits, not enough to “justify any deviation from the objective of conserving natural habitats, wild fauna and flora”.
The court agreed with her, ruling that “in view of the very limited benefits that these projects will have for the territory and its inhabitants, it is not possible to waive rules concerning the protection of the environment”.
Following the decision, the Ministry of Transport issued a press release pointing out that it was decided in 2018 that the road would be a public utility, and that it enjoyed support from elected officials, residents and economic stakeholders.
‘Raises many questions’
Philippe Tabarot, the minister of transport, commented: “This raises many questions about the running of infrastructure projects in France if a project that has obtained all the necessary authorisations, and even started work, can find itself called into question at any time.”
The road is being financed and built by the Atosca consortium on a concession basis. The constituent companies are NGE Concessions, a subsidiary of French engineer NGE (25%), Italian toll road operator Ascendi (15%), and infrastructure investors Quaero Capital (30%) and TIIC (30%).
Following the decision, Atosca said it had taken note of the “impossibility of continuing the work and of the state’s intention to take all avenues of appeal allowing the resumption of the project as soon as possible”.
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