THE INTERVIEW Chantal May, assistant of the city of Nîmes for Vegetation: "I would like to make the permit to revegetate more flexible"

Deputy delegate for vegetation, parks and gardens, Chantal May is one of the new hires of the current mandate of Jean-Paul Fournier. She confided her two and a half years to the town hall, her current projects or even the future Jacques-Chirac park.

Objectif Gard: How do you rate your tenure as an assistant these two and a half years?

Chantal May : I draw a lot of wealth from it, there is a lot of work sweeping many fields. I not only deal with parks and gardens and the district council of Garrigues Nord, I also deal with children’s games (about 250 games), pets: cats, dogs, swans and other cemeteries. Not to mention weddings, security commissions… It’s an almost daily discovery. We are preparing the third edition of the Children’s Forest, an event in which we have received many positive feedbacks.

You recently registered the change of traffic on a street in the Croix de Fer district. Can you tell us about the genesis of this project?

La Croix de Fer is a neighborhood that I know very well because I was president of this neighborhood committee. About two years ago, rue de la Biche was transformed into a one-way street, which made traffic flow more smoothly, there is no longer a traffic jam at the Valsainte Institute. On the other hand, some businesses such as the butcher shop at the top of the Iron Cross have found that they have lost customers. In the new Hoche district, we have therefore decided to change the direction of rue du Capitaine Albert Dreyfus, which will allow cars to pass in front of the shops. In addition to a butcher’s shop, there is a new bakery, a wine shop, a tobacconist… This will be implemented in February.

Back to greening, do you think there are enough greening permits granted to compensate for the new infrastructure planned by the city of Nîmes?

Greening permit is a permit that is required by local residents when they want to put greenery in front of their houses on their sidewalk if possible. There is very little demand, but when there is there are some big projects, such as rue du Chapitre, where 20 to 30 planters have been installed.

Do you know why it’s so little in demand?

Because this permission can be blocking, the individual who wants to vegetate may find it too strict, but on the one hand it is necessary if we want to avoid certain problems. In any case, I would like to soften it. The example to follow would be Robert and Gautier streets in the Gambetta district. It is magnificent, the local residents have been developing green spaces for several years and are taking very good care of it.

What can the Municipality do to protect the city’s plant heritage?

We have made an attempt to revegetate the corridors on Russan Road. It was coated and we left two strips for weed growth, that’s proof. Local residents should also try to grab it in front of their houses. Subsequently, we are also faced with incivility, in different streets, some have broken planters or uprooted plants. With Julien Plantier and our services, we would like to set up a charter of good practices when a land is sold to a real estate. I’d like a team to come see if there are any trees worth keeping. If so, some action should be taken.

The works for the Jacques-Chirac park should start this year, are you still in time?

We really don’t have any dates, we received the keys symbolically a little late. There will be a lot of clearing work which will be relatively quick even though there is 15 hectares of space. Everything that is progress or not will perhaps be done in stages. We are following the evolution week after week but the project will start anyway. The first part is to be delivered in 2024 and everything should be finished before the end of the current mandate.

Sasha Virgo

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