Planting 200 trees as a protest, Toulouse residents resist neighborhood urbanization plan.

To say no to the planned urbanization of their neighborhood, a collective planted nearly 200 trees on Saturday March 18, 2023, in ToulouseTo Paleficate.

Thousands of homes in sight

Considered one of the last rural districts of the Pink City, Paléficat will undergo a major transformation in the years to come. Between 6,000 and 7,000 homes are to be built in this green enclave located between Croix-Daurade and Borderouge. A project with a horizon of 25 years, which should allow the reception of more than 15,000 peopleaccording to projections by Toulouse Métropole.

An aberration for the members of the collective Le Bocage otherwise, who called for mobilization this Saturday morning. With other friendly collectives, they set out to plant 200 trees on a plot earmarked for urbanization, located on the edge of the northern urban boulevard.

“Project from another time”

“At a time of global warming, how can a metropolis like Toulouse
can she persist in such an archaic program? asks the collective in a press release. The inhabitants of the district, of the neighboring districts and all the sympathizers gathered this March 18 oppose this project from another time, useless, expensive and destructive of the environment. »

In an interview with Toulouse Newsin December 2021, Annette Laigneau, elected representative of the Metropolis and president of Oppidea, the developer of this future district, defended the project.

“The project that was selected is attractive because it responds to the operator’s concern to protect the existing landscape and thus meet the expectations of local residents. Paléficat is a particular district where nature is very present. The challenge is to build housing by adapting to the natural context”

Preserving a green lung of Toulouse

Arguments that do not convince the members of the Bocage otherwise collective, who are convinced that this district “deserves to be preserved, that its agricultural vocation close to the heart of the city must be reinforced, that its role as a major green lung of Toulouse must be protected. »

Planting trees to oppose an urbanization project is not a first in Toulouse. Last November, the defenders of the project of Pradettes urban farm had planted trees on the wasteland of Bordeblanche, land intended for the construction of housing and public facilities by the town hall.

150 trees had been planted in two hours. They had been removed some time later by the municipal services in order to be replanted in a nearby park. The planned urbanization project on this site is still ongoing: the town hall has just approved the sale of the land. A request to the administrative court was however filed by the collective of Pradettes associations last August.

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