Dordogne bypass fight continues
Protestors in the Dordogne say they will continue to protest and to fight in order to prevent the construction
A €32 million bypass through one of the most beautiful and most visited valleys in France is causing uproar amongst enduring protestors – even though the department’s Prefecture has given it the go ahead and work could start as early as September.
Germinal Peiro, President of the Conseil Départemental de la Dordogne, has campaigned for years to build the 3.5km road. He says it will preserve and protect the landscape as it will ease severe traffic congestion through Beynac, listed as one of ‘Les Plus Beaux Villages de France’, during summer.
The new road will bypass a section of the existing one that runs from Sarlat to Saint-Cyprien passing through Beynac, and will cross the ‘Five Châteaux Valley’.
However the group, Sauvons la Vallée Dordogne says the road will be an environmental disaster and should not be allowed at the heart of the largest Unesco biosphere in France. It claims the €32m cost is a waste when the Cour des Comptes has declared the department is badly in debt and the existing road through Beynac was recently widened.
The group has instructed lawyers to fight to suspend the works. Théophile Pardo, President of DIGD, one of the associations in Sauvons la Vallée Dordogne, says he is optimistic that the group has a good case, but it needs to raise at least €20,000 to pay for lawyers.
