Parliamentary question - P-0311/2007Parliamentary question
P-0311/2007

Creation of a technical landfill centre for Type 2 final waste in the Cambrai (Nord) district — the need to clarify Community law

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0311/07
by Brigitte Douay (PSE)
to the Commission

There are currently plans to create a technical landfill centre for Type 2 final waste in the Cambrai (Nord) district at the place known as Ferme de Raucourt.

The elected representatives and population of neighbouring communes are concerned about the possible impact of such an installation on the quality of the environment, and fear there are risks of polluting the groundwater and the River Escaut.

They point out that the geological and hydrological context does not seem to them to be compatible with such a plan: the centre would be installed in an irreplaceable water catchment area, on permeable soil, three km from a regional pumping station and 2.5 km from the River Escaut. The Escaut rises a few kilometres uphill and flows past Cambrai to Antwerp and the Netherlands before flowing into the North Sea.

The watercourse in this case is a transborder river, governed by the International Agreement on the Escaut of 3 December 2002, which refers to the framework directive on water.

Moreover the landfill centre would be installed in the heart of the Upper Escaut Valley, a tourist and cultural region in the midst of development that includes a classified site, the Abbey of Vaucelles.

Could the Commission therefore draw attention to the Community rules for the management of water and the pollution of the groundwater, concerning establishments of this kind?

OJ C 293, 05/12/2007