“Everyone wants to come back to the Grand Travers!”: in La Grande-Motte, the displaced straw huts are taking a hit
Joël Ortiz, manager of La Voile Bleue, hopes to return to the Grand Travers. Midi Libre – Lilian Todeschini
La Voile Bleue, paillote déplacée, se situe désormais près du centre. Midi Libre – Lilian Todeschini
After more than twenty years of summer presence on the Grand Travers beach, three straw huts had to move closer to La Grande-Motte after a court decision. The operators complied, not without regret… Testimonies.
After the transfer of their historic location in Grand Travers, how did the season go for the three private beaches concerned ? "We had no one for three months", deplores Joël Ortiz, the owner of La Voile Bleue. This year it is experiencing a “catastrophic drop in activity: –40% in May-June and – 20% in July”. For him, more than the travel, it is above all the bad summer season that impacts his establishment, which he has managed for 28 years. The Grand Travers, classified as a remarkable space, was returned to nature after the decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal last April. The court ruled that the precarious permits for the three beach concessions (La Voile Bleue, l’Effet Mer and la Paillote bambou) were not legal.
Pierre-Yves Bricon, owner of la Paillote Bambou, makes a similar observation. He laments having had to hire "35 fewer people for the season". A consequence of the relocation of his establishment, but also“of the decline in the purchasing power of holidaymakers”. “Let's compare like with like". Joël Ortiz explains that “all the beach establishments in Occitanie are affected." At his place, “There are fewer people", but the average basket of his customers "has not lowered”.
Parking and travel time
La Voile Bleue, between the sea and the parking lot of the Jean Baumel esplanade. Midi Libre – Lilian Todeschini
Joël Ortiz, previously "installed on a passageway", is today "at the end of a dead-end road", thus complicating access to his establishment. At the Paillote Bambou, it is the distance from the metropolis of Montpellier that poses a problem. "Some of our customers are from Montpellier. Their journey is at least ten minutes longer there and ten minutes back".
Both establishments have nevertheless been provided with reserved parking areas. A portion of the parking lot on the Esplanade Jean Baumel is thus dedicated to customers of the Voile Bleue, while the Paillote Bambou has a private area in the Couchant 1 parking lot, near the Super U. This does not seem to satisfy some neighboring establishments. "Before, there was no private parking. “Our customers have more trouble finding a parking space,” they explain at Cosy Beach, an adjacent beach hut.
For Antoine, one of the team leaders at the Côté Sud private beach, “the moved beach huts are no problem.” We don't necessarily have the same clientele and we don't step on each other's toes,” he says.
“Everyone wants to come back to the Grand Travers!”
“If there really was a problem, then we're just moving it”, says Manu, in his sixties, a customer at La Voile Bleue since 2005. His partner Mimi seems just as taken aback. “We don't understand the difference: how does it not bother the wildlife here”?” Seated at a table with the boss, the couple from Vaucluse denounce this shift towards the port.
Bruno Ortiz, Joël's brother, prefers to let the numbers do the talking. “Between 55,000 and 60,000 people come here every year. As for the environmental associations in Grand Travers, they only bring together a few dozen people. You see the difference ?” While agreeing with his brother's words, Joël Ortiz hopes to find his location in Grand Travers again. “In two or three years, we'll go back". Mimi adds with determination: “Everyone wants to come back to the Grand Travers!”
What about the 2025 season ?
By the end of the year, the municipality must put the concessions back into play. “The three displaced straw huts will compete for two lots", explains Pierre-Yves Bricon. They will be located after the La Dune nightclub roundabout, towards the city. “One of the three will probably disappear”, continues the manager, saddened.”“But we don't know anything yet”, indicates the manager of the Paillote Bambou, who nevertheless affirms that “it is the municipality that will choose the candidates”, who will then be granted a concession until 2029.
Grand Travers beach, without straw huts in the summer for the first time in over twenty years. Midi Libre – Lilian Todeschini
Le Grand Travers, a classified space
The classification of the Grand Travers beaches as a remarkable cultural space by the administrative court of Montpellier in 2021 had placed the three straw huts on probation. A government mission on beach concessions in Hérault, carried out a year later, concluded that a relocation of the establishments was necessary.
On December 21, 2023, the administrative court of Montpellier canceled the temporary permits issued to the three beach huts that occupied the Grand Travers beach, for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Two environmental associations are behind these appeals.
The Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal, which delivered its judgment on April 11, 2024, rejected the request for a stay of execution by the municipality of La Grande-Motte. The latter decided to provide three temporary locations for the Voile Bleue, the Paillote Bambou and the Effet Mer outside the protected area.
When contacted several times, the Effet Mer team did not wish to respond to us. I subscribe to read the rest
Related Posts
-
“That’s why I play tennis, not to play Challengers”: Benoît Paire finally regains victory after more than 500 days of drought
-
Autism Day: in Frontignan, a photo exhibition to highlight families
-
ASBH: “A lot of people think that Brive will win, but we don’t want that”, Pierre Caillet and Béziers ready before the jump-off
-
A shark at the end of the line, busy TER trains, a great show at the Nîmes arenas: the essential regional news
About The Author
