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Voters give green light to new airport in western France

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Voters give green light to new airport in western France
Photo: AFP

A controversial new airport in western France was given the backing by voters on Sunday after decades of debate and demonstrations. But will it ever get built?

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Voters in western France gave the go-ahead on Sunday to a controversial airport development that has been at the
centre of a years-long battle between environmental activists and the government.

The local referendum on the new Nantes Atlantique airport passed with a 55 percent majority, ending a 50 year argument that saw the government's environment advisers resign in 2014.

Authorities argue that the new airport will provide a major boost to tourism in western France, but environmental campaigners have fiercely opposed the plans to build it on protected swampland just outside Nantes.

"Whether it is yes or no, we have made a decision," said one exasperated voter.

The former mayor of Nantes Jean-Marc Ayrault, a long-time supporter of the project, as well as an ex-prime minister and current foreign minster, praised the voters' decision Sunday evening.

"This is a clear vote on a project that has been so contested, so I think that today the message we can say is: respect the decision of voters from Loire-Atlantique," Ayrault told AFP.

The project involves transferring Nantes Atlantique airport to a 1,650-hectare (4,000-acre) site of protected swampland just outside the city.

Approved in 2008, the €580-million($747 million) project had been due to start in 2014 but has been repeatedly delayed by protests, which at their peak attached thousands of people and on occasion deteriorated into clashes with the police.

Following the vote, however, opponents known as Zadists, who have occupied part of the site vowed not to give up and called for action in the weeks to come.

ALSO: Does France really need a new airport hub in the west?Does France really need a new airport hub in the west?

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