ITCoastal erosion is undoubtedly one of the major topics of the coastal societies of the 21st century, affecting all seafronts. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as we know, is particularly concerned. For now, 46 municipalities have been included by the government in the table of the decree (amended in June) establishing the famous list of municipalities whose action in terms of urban planning and development policy must be adapted.
ITCoastal erosion is undoubtedly one of the major topics of the coastal societies of the 21st century, affecting all seafronts. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as we know, is particularly concerned. So far, 46 municipalities have been included by the government in the table of the decree (amended in June) establishing the famous list of municipalities whose action in terms of urban planning and development policy must be adapted: six municipalities in Pyrénées-Atlantiques. , six in Landes, eight in Gironde and 26 in Charente-Maritime. There is no doubt that this list will continue to grow…
Legal discourse has long remained poor on this major issue of coastal retreat, historically limiting the law of erosion to the very technical realm of sea dike regulation. The famous Gironde de la Signal case highlighted the limits of French law, notably by stating that erosion does not fall within the scope of expropriation for major natural risks (which was ruled by the Council of State and the Constitutional Council in 2018).
Risk planning
As for the law of the maritime public domain, it has never been favorable to the inhabitants of the sea, as the evolution of the coastline has as a consequence, in the application of the General Code of the property of public persons (and in the footsteps of Colbert). marine ordinance), to incorporate the lands covered by the greatest flood into the public domain of the state (except in exceptional weather circumstances), with no right to compensation for riparian owners.
“We had to wait for the important Climate and Resilience Act to see the legislature take up the subject seriously”
Despite the pioneering attempts of a few parliamentarians, for a long time we were more concerned with the urbanization of coastal hamlets (the ELAN law of 2018) than with thinking about a relevant legal framework to better understand erosion in the French legislative and regulatory corpus. We had to wait for the important Climate and Resilience law of August 22, 2021 to see the legislator take up the subject seriously, in the register of development and urban planning law.
The focus is on risk planning and land control: within a strict legal framework (covering the municipalities listed in the decree), local maps of erosion areas must be developed (and communicated to the public during the consultation); local town planning plans must evolve and include the zoning of exposed sectors (within a horizon between zero and thirty years and between thirty and one hundred years); relocation spaces can be delimited; a specific right of preemption is created. Urban planning rules will be very strict (unbuildable, etc.), which will necessarily affect the real estate market.
Compensation solution
Today there remains the thorny issue of the financial aspects of the coastal retreat. Priority being necessarily oriented towards financing the relocation of public property to be moved, the prospects for compensation for private owners victims of erosion remain unresolved… Proposals have been made on this subject, especially for the main dwellings.
In any case, society's awareness of climate change, excluding the assumption of compensation for owners who purchased knowingly, as well as the essential control of public finances, seems to call for a limited compensation solution. If it ends up being adopted by the government, it will have to be based on precise and reasonable criteria to be, if necessary, translated into legal language.