Protest to save historic valley from €32m by-pass

A protest camp has been set up in the middle of a beauty spot valley to try to prevent a €32million by-pass affecting one of Aquitaine’s major sites.
The location at Beynac has three of France’s most beautiful villages plus three chateaux and the Dordogne valley is one of the country’s most beautiful and most visited, with more than 700,000 visitors a year in an area called the Triangle d’Or. It is also part of France’s largest Unesco biosphere reserve.
Protesters from Sauvons la Vallée Dordogne are campaigning against a department council plan to cut congestion in Beynac with a valley by-pass that would also improve the Sarlat-Bergerac road.
The three men have been taken to court accused of trespassing but say the site is public land. They want to show the 3.5km road is a waste of money as recent roadworks in Beynac could solve the traffic problem.
They say building two bridges and roundabouts alongside the present little-used railway line will cause a nuisance with fast vehicles, will be unsightly and will disturb the river ecology, possibly threatening its Unesco title and affecting the unspoilt Natura 2000 landscape.
Campaigner Bernard Bosquet is a retired Unesco consultant and said: “The work on the bridges and current changes caused by the pillars could severely affect the migratory fish population which is already fragile.
“The Dordogne River is the core area of the biosphere reserve and I would say it needs to remain undamaged to keep its label.”
Michel André, one of the three men awaiting a court verdict on April 4 to see if they will be evicted, is convinced they are winning.
“The Dordogne prefect has assured us the new Loi Sur l’Eau means strict environmental regulations for new installations have to be respected. I am hoping for a new public inquiry.
“We are also in touch with the European Commission and the European Court as well as Unesco. We are not prepared to see this road go ahead.”
However, council president and Dordogne MP Germinal Peiro said the plan was to protect the landscape, not destroy it: “I lived in Beynac for 17 years, I went to primary school in Beynac, I was the mayor of nearby Castelnaud for 31 years... why would I want to do anything to harm my valley?”
Summer sees 12,000 vehicles a day in Beynac’s narrow streets, with 6,000 a day the rest of the year and he added: “Beynac is one of France’s Most Beautiful Villages; it should be protected from traffic.
“The new road will be screened by trees with six times more planted than we cut down.
“The south of the department needs a decent, fluid road for its inhabitants and the Beynac roadworks will not solve the problem as they are aimed at pedestrians, with parts of the road narrower than before.
“Three public inquiries have said the plan is of public use and I am confident it will open in 2020 as planned.”