2023-05-17 04:30:18
In some areas, not pruning your garden can now cost you dearly. The deputies voted on Tuesday in favor of a reinforcement of the fines for the owners of plots in areas at risk of fire who have breached legal obligations of clearing, despite the opposition which pleaded for more prevention. “We must leave nothing to chance, and make it known how crucial they are”, insisted Dominique Faure, the Minister in charge of Territorial Communities, present in the Assembly for the examination of a bill aimed at limiting the risks of fire, already unanimously adopted at first reading in the Senate.
The minister supported the increase in fines, from 30 to 50 euros per square meter subject to an obligation to clear brushwood to limit the spread of fires, in territories classified at risk and departments where woods and forests are particularly exposed.
“There are already criminal and financial sanctions in the texts (…) It is better to dialogue rather than go through the sanction”, for her part pleaded the deputy LFI Catherine Couturier, calling not to increase the bills of “small owners” . “The issue is really information. A number of small owners are unaware of this legal obligation, ”added LR Thibault Bazin.
“This is a legal obligation that must be implemented for everyone’s safety,” said Renaissance rapporteur Sophie Panonacle, on the contrary, before the article was adopted by a show of hands.
Drone surveillance rejected
MEPs also adopted an article to limit the risks around Seveso sites (which contain a certain amount of hazardous materials). When these sites are located less than 200 m from woods or forests in territories at risk of fire or departments where woods and forests are particularly exposed, they would be obliged to clear brush over a distance of 100 m instead of 50 The distance may even be increased to 200 m by decision of the prefect.
On the other hand, and against the opinion of the government and the rapporteur, the deputies rejected by two votes the possibility of using drones to control the implementation of the legal obligations of brush clearing. The elected LFI, environmentalists and socialists are particularly opposed to it. The deputies also ruled out restoring a tax credit for owners who had incurred costs to meet their clearing obligations, a proposal from the RN.
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