The financial partners involved in the reconstruction of the Jules-Rousse hospital center, in Tarascon-sur-Ariège, would have recently pressed the progress of this file paralyzed for ten years. Explanations.
It has become, so to speak, an urban legend, a project full of promises, the urgency of which is no longer open to debate, but which is struggling to see the light of day. Indeed, at the heart of a conflict for several years, now tightened between the community of communes of the country of Tarascon and the Department, the future of the Tarascon hospital center, which today depends on the result of a study by compliance, is currently in status quo.
The Banat land was presented in October 2020 in the presence, among others, of Christine Téqui, president of the Ariège departmental council.
–
The source of the disagreement: its future location. Currently perched in the “Lafrau Haute” district in Tarascon, the establishment, which must be completely rebuilt, was offered land in Banat in 2015 next to the prehistoric park. A plot of 1.5 ha provided free of charge by the departmental council coupled with an envelope of € 2.60 million to help its reconstruction. An approach for “this project to materialize and put an end to the procrastination,” said Christine Tequi, president of the departmental council in October 2020: “Each participant has a role to play in propelling this file”, insisted the elected.
A file also closely followed by Philippe Pujol, president of the community of communes of the Pays de Tarascon: “All the recommendations of the nursing homes of tomorrow tell you that it is necessary to be as close as possible to a city center and if possible to promote intergenerational ties. Not isolated 4 km from Tarascon ”, underlines the mayor of Arignac. But the location of the future health center should be decided sooner than expected. Indeed, according to our sources, certain financial partners involved in its reconstruction would have imposed an ultimatum on the various decision-making actors in the territory. A deadline that would be set for December 31.
The “comcom” wants to explore other avenues
“We are not against anything, we have not stopped anything, rejected anything, explains Philippe Pujol. A project declaration procedure is in progress and must reveal the sites likely to receive this structure. If Banat is the best location then no problem, but we should not rule out other locations, we just want it to be the best solution, ”he concludes. Much more than an option, the land of Banat is the best solution for the mayor of Tarascon: “I invite you to listen to those who are the funders and those responsible, that is to say, the departmental council, the State and hospital […] A design office is currently proposing a modification of the PLU to allow the construction of the hospital and the president of SCOT tells us that he will not make any opposition. The State finds that the work of the cabinet is satisfactory, so what can one reproach this ground? », Declared Alain Sutra, during the municipal council of Tarascon.
A question that will undoubtedly be the subject of a debate today during the hospital’s report to the plenary meeting of the departmental council.
Jules-Rousse hospital: key dates to remember
The establishment of the future Tarascon-sur-Ariège hospital will today be one of the sensitive points of the plenary meeting of the Ariège departmental council. Much more than a lick of paint, the site must imperatively be rebuilt and its future relocation still gives rise to disagreements. Back on these essential dates.
- 2011: projects concerning the Jules-Rousse hospital are already confronting each other between Alain Sutra, mayor of Tarascon, and Alain Duran, then president of the community of communes of the country of Tarascon.
- 2012: the Department deliberates on the purchase of land in Quié supposed to accommodate the new hospital.
- 2013: at the end of the year, the ARS awarded it the sum of 650 K € within the framework of the Regional Intervention Fund (FIR).
- 2015: the supervisory board validates 126 beds in nursing homes, 25 SSIAD places, and 6 day care places. Martine Gache, then director of the establishment, announces that a new hospital will be opened in the town of Quié, thanks to the support of the ARS and the Ariège general council. In the same year, the construction project on Quié was ultimately not selected. The Department offers land it owns in the vicinity of the Prehistory Park, in Banat. The principle of a € 2.2 million subsidy is also validated.
- 2018: the abolition of the USLD does not pass and 19 of the 20 mayors of the intermunicipal association consider that this closure constitutes a “human and territorial aberration”. Alain Sutra explains that he has no choice “for lack of doctors and qualified personnel”.
–
