How did this Normandy town adapt to save its campsite from rising water levels?

Quiberville-sur-Mer: its white cabins, its pebble beach, its green meadows bathed by the Saâne… and now its “relocated” campsite. Faced with rising water levels, this small Norman village of 350 inhabitants has chosen to move its former municipal tourist facilities located inland, located about twenty meters from the sea. An unprecedented operation in France.

At the end of September, local personalities and journalists are witnessing the demolition of the old toilets. After the buildings, it will still be necessary to remove the coating from the access roads and the embankments (earth embankments), in order to renature the site. The concrete culvert which borders the mouth of the Saâne, a little further on, will also be removed.

The objective? Let the coastal river take its ease under the future bridge, construction of which should begin in November 2024. Almost a survival issue for this commune in the Saâne valley faced with the risks of continental flooding and marine submersion. “In all, 250 French municipalities, including 44 in Normandy, have taken steps to adapt to the decline of the coastline,” assesses the prefect, Jean-Benoît Albertini. Many are doing studies, but the only realization of a project for the moment is here. »

How did such a small village become a pioneer in adapting to climate change on the coasts? It first took several traumatic episodes of flooding in 1993, 1995 and 1999. “That year, I saw a hundred caravans floating in 1.60 m of water,” recalls Jean-François Bloc, mayor since 1987, at the foot of the flood marker which shows a photo of the event. Rebelote in 2018: Quiberville once again transforms into a basin from which water cannot escape because of the dike and the culvert that is too narrow.

Faced with the recurrence of floods, the municipal campsite is threatened with administrative closure. But it represents a major source of income for the small town. So what to do? “I wanted to continue to protect it with groynes and riprap to show nature what we were capable of,” smiles the city councilor today. But I met scientists who helped me think differently and consider a more lasting solution. »

Get to know the territory better

To implement it, support from the State will be required. From 2012, the latter commissioned the Coastal Conservatory to help the villages of the lower Saâne valley to develop a global protection plan. A first version failed due to lack of support from residents.

“But it allowed us to get to know the territory better,” explains Régis Leymarie, Normandy deputy delegate at the Conservatoire du Littoral, who has been involved in the project since its beginnings. It takes time to share a diagnosis and get local communities to agree on what should be done. »

Little by little, the relocation project matures, the mayor of Quiberville launches the modification of the local urban plan with a view to building the new campsite on agricultural land 700 m from the sea.

European funding

All that remains is to find the money. Luckily, in 2017, the Coastal Conservatory was asked by England to set up a European program for adaptation to coastal changes (Pacco). Enough to finance 70% of the future outdoor tourist equipment which will ultimately cost 8.6 million euros. “With my annual operating budget of 600,000 euros and only French subsidies, I would never have succeeded,” assures Jean-François Bloc.

Opened in the summer of 2023 on a hillside, the young Domaine Saâne et mer no longer has much in common with the old beach campsite. Equipped tents, high-end wooden bungalows, swimming pool: the town took advantage of this “relocation” to adapt to the new expectations of vacationers, particularly foreigners.

A way to ensure long-term income, in a complicated financial context. “As European aid was only paid after the start of the work, I had to take out a short-term loan whose interest created an additional cost of 170,000 euros,” laments the mayor. The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations should grant zero-interest loans to municipalities to enable them to adapt to climate change! »

The National Coastline Committee, launched in 2023, is working on a financing model for municipal adaptation projects. There as elsewhere, money indeed constitutes the nerve of the transition.