Lower Saâne Valley territorial project (Seine-Maritime)

December 2022

The country

The Saâne is a 41km-long coastal river in Normandy. It rises in the Pays de Caux, in the commune of Val-de-Saâne, and flows into the English Channel at Quiberville-sur-Mer (Côte d’Albâtre). Its entire course is located in the Seine-Maritime département. At Gueures, the Saâne is joined on its right bank by a 15km-long tributary, the Vienne.

The Lower Saâne Valley is made up of the municipalities of Longueil (population 561), Quiberville-sur-Mer (population 541) and Sainte-Marguerite-sur-mer (population 468)*. It has a total surface area of 20.5 km2. The valley is dotted with numerous Cauchois farmhouses known as « clos-masures », which look like wooded islands of 2 to 3 hectares in size, usually planted with cider apple trees, with farmyards surrounded by beech-tree embankments. Various buildings are scattered around these enclosures: dwellings, farm buildings, dovecotes, etc.

The Saâne valley is a large ecological complex made up of wet meadows and a few crops. The main attraction of this wetland is its size, openness and landscape. There are two types of landscape:

• the valley floor: wide and flat, mainly agricultural ;

the asymmetrical hillsides, with relatively steep slopes to the west, while to the east, where Sainte-Marguerite is located, the slopes are gentler and the hillside is cut by two dry valleys.

Farming has undergone major changes over the last few decades. There has been a steady decline in the area of meadows in favour of arable land and urbanised areas. Cultivated land is widely spread across the plateaux, but has spread to steeply sloping areas and valley bottoms.

Economic activities have developed in the valley, inheriting the settlements that were once built to harness water power. Numerous mills (52 in all for the Saâne and Vienne valleys at the beginning of the 19th century) were also set up along the banks, benefiting from the remarkable regularity of the flow and sufficient hydraulic power. The valleys of the Saâne and the Vienne are often left to grassland due to the presence of groundwater and the ageing or abandonment of drainage networks. However, their configuration has been impacted by human activities (campsites, housing estates, leisure activities).

The PACCo project

The aim of the PACCo European project (France-England) is to demonstrate that approaches to adapting to climate change can be implemented in coastal and estuary areas along the English Channel. They bring together the local stakeholders concerned to work on a project for a resilient territory that is a source of socio-economic and environmental benefits.

The total budget for the PACCo project is €26 million, including €17.8 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The initiative will recreate 100 hectares of intertidal and wetland habitats, enhance ecosystem services and generate socio-economic benefits across the two target sites, the Lower Otter Valley (Devon, England) and the Lower Saâne Valley (Seine-Maritime, France).

For the French territorial project, this means funding for two major operations:

• The creation of a new municipal tourist facility at Quiberville-sur-Mer, under local authority management, for a total of €8.6m, with a contribution of €5.9m from the ERDF,

• The creation of a wastewater treatment plant and sewerage networks at Longueil, under the project management of the Terroir de Caux Community of Municipalities, for a total of €4.1m, with the ERDF contributing €2.8m.

These projects will receive additional support via a Territorial Contract co-signed with the Normandy Region and the Seine-Maritime Departmental Council.

Completion of these operations is on schedule with the PACCo project: construction is due to be completed in March 2023.

The third major project, the reconnection of the Saâne to the sea and associated hydromorphological works, under the project management of the Syndicat Mixte des Bassins Versants Saâne Vienne Scie, is being funded through a Territorial Water and Climate Contract co-signed with the Seine-Normandie Water Agency. The project is estimated to cost around €5m.

The timetable is not indexed to that of the PACCo project: completion of the works is scheduled for 2025.

The European Union’s commitment

At the beginning of February 2020, the Interreg France (Channel) England programming committee formalised the European Union’s commitment by validating the PACCo project (despite Brexit). Interreg PACCo has a lead partner in the UK, the Environment Agency, and a coordinator in France, the Conservatoire du Littoral (Normandy Delegation). This exceptional financial support will enable the Saâne territorial project to be implemented (see the February 2020 Saâne newsletter). The work will continue until 2025.

A website dedicated to the PACCo project has been operational since 2021. It presents the actions carried out in the lower Saâne valley and the lower Otter valley.

From now on, the Saâne territorial project will be one of the most ambitious in terms of adapting to climate change and the spatial reorganisation of a coastal area.

Progress of the project in recent years

The steering committee meeting in September 2016 validated the overall trajectory of the project in the short, medium and long term and the main principles of the actions to be carried out in the coming years:

• Building a hydraulic structure to reconnect the Saâne to the sea;

• Relocation of the Quiberville campsite and the Sainte Marguerite sur Mer bungalows;

• Organising all the uses and tourist development of the site;

• Enhancing the environment by restoring the functionality of the wetlands.

The steering committee meeting on 18 December 2018 formalised the transfer of the Quiberville campsite, an important element in the Saâne territorial project (see minutes).

At the steering committee meeting on 11 September 2019, the region reiterated its application to benefit from European funding via the development of a Franco-English Interreg project called PACCo (Promoting Adaptation to Changing Coasts) with the Environment Agency and the Otter Valley site (Devon). The aim is to secure 69% of European funding if the application is successful.

As part of PACCo, two major operations will receive funding from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) as well as project management:

• Relocation of the Quiberville tourist facilities (local authority project) €6.9m,

• The sewage networks and treatment plant at Longueil for around €4m (Communauté de Communes Terroir de Caux project).

The steering committee meeting on 21 June 2022, attended by Hubert DEJEAN DE LA BATIE, Vice-Chairman of the Normandy Region, Alain BAZILLE, Vice-Chairman of the Seine-Maritime Departmental Council, and Alain GUEYDAN, Sub-Prefect of the Seine-Maritime Department, brought together all the project’s partners to discuss the problem of rising raw material costs linked to the current health, geopolitical and economic situation. This situation has not only had an impact on construction budgets, but has also made it more uncertain whether schedules can be met.

The partners involved

The Seine-Normandy Water Agency and the Normandy Region are funding the project. The Conservatoire du Littoral is responsible for coordination and implementation, with an on-site agent. The partners (State, Region, Département, Intercommunalités, Communes, associations, local residents, farmers, fishermen, hunters, etc.) contribute to its construction via two consultation bodies. The technical committee enables the territorial project to be co-constructed and the work of the consultancy firms to be monitored. It meets as required several times a year. The steering committee is the decision-making and validation body for the work, and meets once a year. Several public meetings and workshops have also been held to inform and involve the local population.

The Lower Saâne Valley territorial project

Since 2012, the Conservatoire du Littoral has been leading the territorial project for the lower Saâne valley, working on a comprehensive approach that includes local roots and closer consultation with all stakeholders (private, public, local, departmental and regional). The territorial project has three components:

• Dealing with the risk of flooding by encouraging the Saâne to flow towards the sea, while responding to the risk of marine submersion;

• Taking into account all the socio-economic uses of the lower valley (residents, users, farmers, fishermen, hunters, tourists, etc.);

• Improve the quality of the environment (wetlands, ecological continuity, landscape, water, etc.) and restore biodiversity.

Sources

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