North: trenches dug to prevent traveling people to settle – TF1

Majority and opposition of the small town of Wavrin, in the North , near Lille, indulged Tuesday at the controversy about trenches in June around green spaces to prevent Travellers to settle there. Small ditches have been built around several green spaces (5-6 according to the majority, 10 to 15 according to the opposition) in this town of 7600 inhabitants of the west of Lille. The most important of them, about a meter wide and two deep, surrounding a football field. “This is not Verdun, but it is not far!” Exclaimed Carole Van Nieuwenborghl elected opposition unlabeled, denouncing the “hundred meters trenches” and a total cost of 28,000 euros, confirmed by the majority. “The mayor had an altercation with the Travellers in their last installation, he got upset. He did that after (digging trenches, note), on a whim,” she continued.

The Mayor unlabeled Alain Blondeau did not respond directly to this controversy, but a member of his majority explained the origin of the decision: “We made arrangements to prevent people from travel back too easily after their passage in June, when they reached 120, far exceeding the capacity of a small town like ours. ” “We have good relations with them! And if they come in small numbers, they will always find a plot. We actually proposed two land sites in the urban community and the Prefecture for them to settle down” , he was keen to stress.

Other opposition MPs, were also stigmatized in their blog “this madness” that “disfigures the green areas of the city, saying also that” if tomorrow a group of Travellers wants to settle somewhere, it’s a safe bet that this does not prevent them. “The city of Wavrin, which has 7,000 inhabitants, has for several years, like many others in the agglomeration Lille, comply with the Besson Law, according to Patrick Delebarre, head of section “travelers” in the Lille urban community (MEL). This text stipulates that every city with more than 5,000 inhabitants must have an area Home for Travellers. But, says Patrick Delebarre, also mayor of Bondues, “when confronted as mayor to this kind of problem, we faced a great loneliness, and we must find solutions urgency, good or not. “