Grand Paris Express: legal action against the Bondy station construction site

This time they go on the offensive. A collective made up of local residents threatened with expropriation and five local associations filed a legal action on May 23 with the administrative court of Montreuil against the construction site of the Grand Paris Express in Bondy. They attack the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, in his capacity as representative of the State, and the Société du Grand Paris (SGP) on the plan of the work of the station of the future line 15 East.

The project, which provides for the construction of a new station interconnecting with those of the RER E and the T4 tramway, is welcomed by the applicants, but it is its organization that poses a problem for them. After several petitions and a graceful appeal refused by the prefect of the department in March, they chose to move up a gear.

Waste and a concrete plant near a nursery

They want to cancel the modification of the declaration of public utility of the project. This provides for a widening of the right-of-way initially planned for the construction of the new tracks and the station. In addition to the 5,000 square meters reserved to the north of the road, the SGP has indeed obtained an additional 3,000 square meters near rue Etienne-Dolet and a crèche.

The “anti-nuisance collective” rejects the work plan, and in particular any nuisance around the crèche, since a concrete plant must be built on this new right-of-way, and waste will be stored there. However, the SGP has promised not to pass trucks near the crèche, and ensures that no polluted waste will be stored on site.

Contested expropriations

Residents and the five associations (Bondy Ecologie, Bondy Autre, MNLE 93, Environnement 93 and Agir Pour Le Perreux-sur-Marne) are also contesting the expropriations of three families from rue Etienne-Dolet (members of the collective) provided for by this modification of the declaration of public utility.

Finally, they oppose the temporary condemnation of the footbridge allowing to cross the track, reserved for the installation of a conveyor belt. However, according to them, it is the only passage accessible to people with reduced mobility, the underground passage of the station not having a lift in working order, while the Jules-Ferry bridge, narrow and open to traffic , would endanger pedestrians.

Administrative incompetence and lack of impact study

In the appeal, which “Les Echos” consulted, the collective precisely mentions this lack of accessibility for people with reduced mobility to justify a shortcoming in the impact study.

Moreover, with case law in support, it demonstrates that the law requires examining all the alternatives proposed to a project, and indicating the reasons why the one put to the public inquiry was preferred to another. According to the applicants, the SGP did not take this step for their proposals, such as the storage of embankments under the A3 and A86 motorways or the creation of a temporary footbridge to accommodate the conveyor belt.

Last point, the group believes that the expropriation decision for “urgent” reasons should have been taken by decree of the Council of State and not by inter-prefectural decree, which would invalidate the decision. The SGP chose “not to comment on the ongoing procedures”. It is currently leading the call for tenders for the development of line 15 East, the winning companies of which will be announced in the third quarter of 2023.