“It’s a subject that pollutes the whole village. Someday there is going to be an accident. We don’t understand how they can let that happen… ”The word is liberating. Latent anger. In Volkrange, not a day goes by that it does not manifest itself, in one way or another, among these residents. For some, the ordeal has lasted for twenty years. It is an old file, which poisons the life of the village. Behind, a name that resonates like a well-known refrain: Schiltz.
–
“An omerta in the village”
The case seemed to have been heard, however. Sentenced by the Metz Court of Appeal in 2018 for having illegally stored waste on the “Theilesch” site, Thierry Schiltz theoretically no longer has the right to exploit this land located between Volkrange and Marspich. For this offense, the operator was imprisoned in 2020. Despite this conviction, the problem persists. “The skips slam at 7am. The road is damaged. They drive at full speed, give off dust… People are more than fed up with it, ”explains one resident. “The activity has never really stopped,” confirms another local resident.
It continued during the spring 2020 containment. Nothing seems to disturb the incessant ballet of the trucks. In their bucket, earth and pebbles from earthworks. The municipal police came to see it, without anything changing.
But if everyone sees it, few complain aloud. “There is an omerta in the village,” sighs a resident who prefers to remain anonymous. “There is a real feeling of helplessness because one has the impression that he enjoys total impunity”.
The Thionville prosecutor is not unaware of the problem. Contacted, the latter did not wish to communicate on the subject: “Case in progress”, one indicates to the court.
–
“Everything is in order”
Thierry Schiltz does not intend to stop. “I will leave on the sole condition that the town hall agrees to classify my land in building zone. I will sell, and I will leave, ”he assures us.
The operator maintains that his trucks “are no more dangerous than the 7,000 cars that pass by there daily”. For the rest, according to him everything is in order. The land would no longer be unloaded on the site of “Theilesch”, for which it was condemned, but in its extension. The excavation would not exceed two meters, as the law allows.
Five hundred meters further on, Thierry Schiltz is working on another piece of land, Route de Marspich, on the so-called “Delesch” site. A hole has been dug. According to the prefect, this is also an illegal storage site. Sentenced to regularize the situation in January 2021, Thierry Schiltz and his lawyer filed an appeal with the administrative court.
–
