Faced with the flood of tourists, the resourcefulness of island mayors

He squints to survey the sky. Mayor (Horizons) of Ile-de-Batz (Finistère), Eric Grall watches the westerly breeze sweeping the cumulus clouds towards Roscoff, on the other side of the arm of the sea, on this Thursday morning at the end of July. “The island’s microclimate is nothing short of legendary. The weather is milder here than on the mainland. It also dictates the extent of our tourist attractiveness”says the sexagenarian.

Since 8 a.m., the summer shuttles which cross the Channel every half hour have been unloading their flood of day tourists, secondary residents, lodge tenants… Up to 6,000 summer visitors share this confetti of 3.7 square kilometers where 470 inhabitants live permanently. This seasonal attractiveness, which boosts the local economy, also causes its share of inconveniences. “The reverse side of the postcard”, Eric Grall breathes. Connected to the mainland’s electricity and water networks, the town of Ile-de-Batz suffers less from overcrowding than some of the fourteen other Ponant islands. In Groix (Morbihan), for example, the city councilors are preparing for a water shortage. In this period of drought, the boreholes and the dam are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of locals and holidaymakers. Two pipelines have been installed to swallow hectoliters of the Atlantic to be desalinated using a mobile treatment unit.

The mayor of Ile-de-Batz is monitoring the explosion in the quantity of waste to be collected, sorted, compacted and then returned to the mainland. With a determined step, he crosses the port to present the juggernaut responsible for the evacuation of skips. Slumped on the sand, the barge supporting up to 150 tons waits for the next tide to set off again. “She is our bridge with the continent”, comments David Glidic, co-manager of the company of seven employees operating the barge, subsidized by the Brittany region to ensure the maintenance of this loss-making activity. In the summer, it makes two daily round trips to export the waste as well as the production of the thirteen local farms, before importing parcels, construction machinery or fresh produce. The service works more calmly than that of Bréhat. On this island of Côtes-d’Armor, local elected officials expressed their concerns in early July following health checks which revealed a break in the cold chain during certain transfers..

“Hunting” for subsidies

On Ile-de-Batz, it is the wastewater treatment plant that no longer meets standards. The equipment is unable to treat wastewater from the summer population. The municipality has validated the construction of a new factory at a cost of 2.3 million euros. A substantial sum for a municipality with an annual investment budget of 300,000 euros. So, Eric Grall ” hunt “ the subsidies. He speaks of this activity as a game punctuating his new life. He, the deputy director of Atos, an IT services group with 110,000 employees currently in difficulty, now resides full-time on the island of Batz. In early retirement since this winter, Eric Grall has made his second home built in 2005 in the town of Ile-de-Batz his main accommodation. With his son, he launched a flourishing microbrewery on the island and, with his wife, bought a bar-restaurant.

You have 64.11% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.