The Lille-Lesquin airport extension project is widely contested by associations and the mayors of some municipalities.
“We are moving forward!” On Tuesday, the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, announced in a letter addressed to the deputy for the North, Charlotte Parmentier Lecocq, the start of a preliminary study in view of the establishment of the curfew for Lille-Lesquin airport.
“This approach will make it possible to determine the noise abatement measures and any restrictions appropriate to the local situation and proportionate from a socio-economic point of view”, declared the minister in his letter addressed to the deputy.
“More trains, fewer planes”
It should be remembered that at the end of last April the commission of inquiry gave the green light to the project to expand the Lille-Lesquin airport. A decision that did not pass with the inhabitants, associations and local elected representatives, who had already opposed the project as soon as the extension was announced.
One of the main objections to the project concerns the issue of noise pollution. In 2019, before the health crisis, over 2.2 million passengers passed through Lesquin Airport. The expansion project expects to nearly double that figure, reaching 3.9 million passengers by 2039 and potentially increasing the hassle around the airport.
Satisfied with the launch of the study, the deputy for the North, Charlotte Parmentier Lecocq, thanked the Minister of Transport “for having listened to his request and that of the inhabitants of the area”.
However, he hopes the Hauts-de-France region will do the same by “forgoing the expansion of the airport in favor of more investment in the train”. “We want more trains and fewer planes!”, Concludes the deputy.
A curfew, “but not anyway”
On its Facebook page, the collective “No to the expansion of Lille Lesquin airport” welcomes this “first step”.
“We also hope that the region and Xavier Bertrand will listen to the demands of citizens who demonstrate against this project,” they write. For the curfew: “We too say yes! But not only anyway”, continues the collective.
They fear that a night curfew could cause even more discomfort during the day and with them “the same harmful consequences on the health of residents and as many greenhouse gas emissions”.
“A roofless curfew on flights is like a train without tracks,” concludes the collective, challenging Clément Beaune.
