“We are going to be a dormitory town”: the anger of the inhabitants of a district of Rousson against a social housing project

Les riverains ont dressé, chemin du pont de Barjac, un immense panneau de mécontentement. Midi Libre – Paul Barraud

Le hameau de Brissac, situé à Rousson, près d'Alès, doit accueillir 30 logements sur un terrain de 5 000 m2.

At the end of August 2022, Nathalie, a resident of the hamlet of Brissac, in Rousson, was stunned after receiving a letter in her mailbox. The missive, she indicates, was signed by a surveyor mandated by Habitat du Gard, social landlord of the Department: "That's how we learned that a social housing project was planned right next to my house. 

Very quickly, the neighborhood was informed of the project: thirty housing units planned on a plot of 5,000 m2 located on Chemin du Pont de Barjac. Building land, "but pre-empted by the State according to the town hall", indicates some of the residents. Since this summer, a collective made up of these local residents – 54 families according to their census – has stood against the project, currently under feasibility study. A petition, at their initiative, collected nearly 170 signatures.

Insecurity and relevance

"We don't understand why these accommodations are planned in Brissac", asks Nathalie, a local resident and one of the spokespersons for the collective. Out of the way, the hamlet is only equipped with small, very poorly lit roads. "We can't see anything there at night", testifies Laurence, another inhabitant of the hamlet. "Young people who go to high school by bus, to reach the stop on the road further down, they have to take their headlamps in the morning! And when a car speeds by, they have to jump into the ditch to avoid it!"

Through this example, the residents point out, first of all, an infrastructure problem that is already present and which risks getting worse, according to them, if social housing is built. The roads in place, as well as the lighting system, could not be suitable for a plot of this size. Which, in their eyes, will severely increase the risk of accidents if traffic proves to be greater in the future. 

The other main point of mobilization focuses on the location of the project. A social housing park being, here, far from all services. "We are going to be a dormitory town. We do not understand why these accommodations are planned in Brissac,” insists Jean-Luc, another spokesperson. "Next to the church, in the center of the town, there is land that can accommodate them." The collective also questions the relevance of ;welcome new populations on site knowing that the town "has no shops, and has a doctor who is retiring and who will not be replaced".< /p>

A possible remedy ?

Since the summer, the collective has been received twice by the mayor of Rousson, Ghislain Chassary. "He told us that he couldn't do anything", assure the residents. "The mayor assured us that the State has imposed the provision of this social housing because the town does not have enough. He just told us that, when the building permit is filed, we will be able to launch a free appeal to the administrative court." 

In the event of failure, the mayor would also have assured them that "road works could be studied once the social housing was built." But despite these declarations, the collective of residents feels, to this day, abandoned by their mayor: "We really have the impression that he supports the mayor' urban planning imposed by the State and that it does not support its citizens."

Contacted, the mayor of Rousson Ghislain Chassary has not, to date, responded to our requests. I subscribe to read more