Interview with Jacques Rolland, First Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Environment and Safety at Saint-Vulbas Town Hall
Though considered a village given its population of 1 500 residents across 2 144 hectares, Saint-Vulbas is nevertheless known for the Plaine de l’Ain industrial park, home to numerous companies. Yet today, applications for building permits for logistics activities are systematically rejected. We spoke with Jacques Rolland, First Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Environment and Safety at Saint-Vulbas Town Hall, who explains why.
How would you describe Saint-Vulbas ?
Jacques Rolland : Saint-Vulbas is an unusual municipality because of its territorial organization. With 1 500 residents spread across 2 144 hectares, it is classified as a rural municipality with dispersed housing under the new municipal density grid defined by Insee in 2022. It is therefore a village, but one managed almost like a city, because although one-third of the municipality is agricultural land, farmed by five large farms, we also have the Bugey nuclear power plant (see photo with the Marcilleux chapel) and, above all, the Plaine de l’Ain industrial park, which covers 300 hectares, hosts 185 companies and accounts for more than 8 000 jobs. It was created in the 1970s and has continued to expand ever since.
Why do you accept—or not—the establishment of an industrial and/or logistics activity ?
Jacques Rolland : What stands out about the Plaine de l’Ain industrial park is precisely that it does not stand out ! Apart from certain new buildings, around which the vegetation has not yet grown, you can drive past and see nothing. Building colors are mandated, and landscape quality must be carefully addressed for an application to be approved. Many of the companies already present are in the process of doubling their floor space. But otherwise, today, the park’s joint authority, made up of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the Plaine de l’Ain community of municipalities, the Ain department and the Lyon Metropolitan Area, rejects all applications for purely logistics activities submitted to us, because we want to focus on industry proper. Indeed, in logistics, the jobs created are not sufficiently skilled compared with the disruption caused by truck traffic. In any event, we can see that logistics companies located in the park are now struggling to recruit in the region: 800 job openings remain unanswered, because relatively low pay and inadequate mobility infrastructure, despite carpooling solutions already in place, do not encourage candidates…
What would be needed for these companies to be better accepted ?
Jacques Rolland : In addition to the level of qualifications for jobs, which we would like to see improve (a class specializing in logistics professions has just opened at the Ambérieu-en-Bugey high school), it is necessary to develop additional and alternative mobility solutions for both people and freight. The joint authority is considering, for example, reopening a railway line, with connections to the companies in the park. This would reduce the number of trucks on the roads. For people, staggered schedules can reduce traffic congestion during peak hours but, conversely, they do not make it easier to establish shared transport services. Responsibility is therefore shared.
Nevertheless, what are the park’s qualities that mean you do not regret having accepted project applications ?
Jacques Rolland : The landscape quality maintained by the companies in the park is undeniable. Some have also chosen to bring in sheep to maintain the surrounding lawns and to install beehives. Bike paths have also been built, connecting the park to all parts of the community of municipalities. The park has therefore also become a place for everyone to enjoy a walk. In addition, the taxes paid by companies help fund the construction of new rental housing, complementing the sale by the municipality of Saint-Vulbas of plots for new residents to become homeowners, thereby helping meet the park’s employment needs, which are expected to increase soon with the construction of the new EPR 2 reactors at the Bugey nuclear power plant site.
