Forty-six wind turbines should be built off the coast of Dunkirk in five years. On the coast the project divides municipalities and their residents. A public inquiry will begin in the coming weeks.
Leffrinckoucke versus Bray-Dunes, two seaside resorts, two different visions of the same project. In recent days, the municipal councils of these two municipalities have spoken out on the offshore wind farm which should see the light of day off the coast of Dunkirk in 2028.
In Leffrinckoucke, the majority of elected officials voted in favor.
In Bray-Dunes, the votes against won. Maria Sobrie manages a restaurant on the Bray-Dunes sea wall. The idea of seeing forty-six wind turbines off his terrace worries him. She explains :“It’s a visual nuisance, I was told it was going to be a noise nuisance too. For me, why waste a coastline as beautiful as it is now? There are people who risk saying: it’s no longer useful There’s no point going to Bray-Dunes, it’s not what it was before.”
Here, out of the twenty-five municipal councilors, twenty-one oppose the offshore wind farm project. According to the city’s mayor, Christine Gilloots, this is due to the desire to defend biodiversity. “It is especially in relation to the migratory corridor of birds, which is a major corridor and that requires, at present, a negative vote.”
In Leffrinckoucke, the ballot was also held by secret ballot. Here the project received nineteen votes for, six against. Olivier Ryckebush, mayor of the city deduces that: “Elected officials perhaps think it’s positive for the future. And then : “We talk a lot about decarbonization, we see it through climate change, the upheavals that we experience every day. Is such mild fall temperatures normal? I think tomorrow we need to speed up.”
Similar debates took place a little over a year ago when the first offshore park saw the light of day off Saint-Nazaire in November 2022. Some cannot support wind turbines which they compare to windmills which cut off the horizon, when others no longer pay attention to them.
Along the entire Dunkirk coastline, the future wind farm is also sparking lively debates among the population. There are those who think that: “It’s necessary”, when others would prefer: “let it be put elsewhere.”
duration of video: 00h02mn09s
Off the coast of Dunkirk, the offshore wind farm project divides the municipalities. • ©D. Deparnay / S. Rosenstrauch /FTV
Next step: the public inquiry which will allow all residents of the region to express themselves on the subject.
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