Daniel Gibbs criticized the majority for its "amateurism"
At the last Territorial Council, the leader of the Union for Democracy (UD) once again confronted the majority on how it managed things. At every session, Daniel Gibbs highlighted "her amateurism" which he says she demonstrates.
"Generally speaking, and once again, we deplore and denounce with force and vigor, a chronic unprepared and institutionalized amateurism, when it comes to the preparation of this territorial council, and also the way you put together your files," said Daniel Gibbs during his speech in the preamble. He focused on two main points: the modifications of the land occupation plan and the organic law, which the elected representatives had to vote on.
Modification of the land use plan in Pinel
Concerning the modification of the land use plan (POS) in order to be able to build on a plot on Pinel Island in view of the ecolodge construction, the UD leader considers that the debate proposed to the elected representatives is "invalid". He justified his statement by adding: "The articles of the urban planning laws which you have referred to in order to pass this simplified amendment do not relate to the land occupation plan, but the PLU [Local Urbanism Plan] for which the work has been frozen."
According to the UD, this argument is already enough in order to vote against this proposal. Nevertheless, Daniel Gibbs did not conceal his opposition to this project because of its environmental impact on one of the island’s "crown jewels". He qualified this project as an "announced defacement of the natural heritage". You should bear in mind that on this last point, the elected representatives of the majority are also against this project, assured Guillaume Arnell.
Amendment of the organic law
The opposition’s speech was also virulent concerning the amendments to the organic law proposed by President Aline Hanson. On the one hand, the UD criticized the majority for wanting to recover this file at just a few months before the territorial elections [Editor’s note: amending the organic law in order to improve the running of the Collectivité was proposed in June 2013 by the Minister for Overseas Territories]. "We are surprised that on the eve of the territorial elections, when this majority always dragged its feet on this file, they have suddenly declared it to be an emergency," commented Daniel Gibbs who said that these amendments will not be taken into account by Paris, because they would occur "after the deadline" at six months from the presidential election. "Once again, this team has demonstrated an inability to schedule and carry out a rational and concerted proceeding. But here, I’m not only talking about this project for the revision of the organic law; it’s a criticism of a general nature which is becoming more and more of an issue", he added.
