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- Château de La Barben
Photo : Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
On 13 February 2024, the Aix-en-Provence correctional court sentenced SAS Rocher Mistral (which had received over €6 million in public funding) and its chairman, Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon, for several works carried out at the Château de La Barben despite the refusals of the relevant government departments (see article). The defendants were given suspended fines - €70,000 for SAS Rocher Mistral and €20,000 for its chairman - and ordered to restore the site within 9 months. They were also ordered to pay damages of €1,000 and €2,000 to France Nature et Environnement and the commune of La Barben.
Since the verdict was handed down, Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon has announced his intention to appeal and has taken to the media (CNEWS, BFM, Le Figaro, Le Journal du dimanche, Entreprendre, Valeurs actuelles, le Salon beige, Famille chrétienne, Boulevard Voltaire etc.) to complain about his fate and that of his company. Expressing his incomprehension at this ruling, he said he was the victim of an ’extreme left-wing’ political plot orchestrated by ’external lobbies’, the government departments responsible for examining his applications (DRAC, ABF, etc.), the mayor of La Barben, some of the press, associations and local residents of the Château de La Barben. This ’fine team’ allegedly sought to prevent this ’knight of heritage’ from carrying out his ’popular culture project’ of ’home-made’ shows. No less.
This posture of victimhood and conspiracy is media smoke and mirrors. It aims to hide the real responsibilities and minimise the seriousness of the offences committed. It is also an implicit attempt to impress the public authorities. Let’s be clear: just because you have the desire to do business doesn’t mean your project is legitimate. Just because you apply for planning permission doesn’t mean that it will always be granted. You can’t just do anything and everything anywhere. Nor can we try to use the current rhetoric on administrative simplification to try and achieve unbridled deregulation for the benefit of a single party. All citizens experience this every day in their daily lives. There are laws and these laws must be the same for everyone, even when you have powerful financial backers (Montagne, Dassault, Deniau, Dréau, Nouzarède) and media support. The situation would have been quite different if Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon had designed a project adapted to the requirements of the site, respectful of the village and the people who live there, the real victims of this affair.
Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon’s cries of outrage in the columns and microphones of the complacent media, which don’t even bother to check what he says, particularly the figures he puts forward for employment and visitor numbers, should deceive no-one: he alone is responsible for what has happened to him. He is the one who designed a project that is incompatible with the urban planning, environmental and heritage requirements designed to protect this remarkable site and ensure that it is passed on to future generations. It was he who decided, and claimed on several occasions, to recruit staff and start work even before obtaining the necessary authorisations from the government. And it was the same company that continued to recruit staff and carry out work even though the responses from the government departments were negative, at the risk of jeopardising its project and its employees.
Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon knowingly sought to force the law. Complaints have been lodged. The public prosecutor decided to prosecute him. He was convicted at first instance. So what? Recently, a French prime minister, not exactly from the extreme left, declared from the gallery of Parliament: "You break, you repair! You make it dirty, you clean it up! You defy authority, we’ll teach you to respect it!". And here we are!
Xavier Daumalin, local resident, historian and local correspondent for Sites & Monuments.