In the Bourges valley in the Ardèche, plans to build a Catholic place of worship are causing controversy well beyond the Fontaulière catchment area.
An enormous project
In the heart of the regional nature park in a village of 436 inhabitants, saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, a 3500-seat basilica is set to see the light of day according to the planning permission issued by the town hall on 12 December 2018.
In this small Ardèche village in the Bourges valley, plans to build a vast basilica have given rise to an emblematic conflict between religious development, environmental protection and militant action.
Supported by the Catholic congregation of the Missionary Family of Notre-Dame*, this spiritual centre includes a 3,500-seat church, accommodation buildings, a large car park and a footbridge over the river, all on a seven-hectare site in the heart of the Monts d’Ardèche regional nature park in a village. For its promoters, the aim is to welcome the many pilgrims who have been coming to pray at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges for decades, and to give the site a national and even international profile.
Local opposition and mobilisation
As soon as the project was announced, local residents and associations formed the Les Ami.e.s de la Bourges* collective, arguing that the size of the complex was totally disproportionate to the village of just over 400 inhabitants and its sensitive environment. In particular, they denounce the artificialization of several hectares of agricultural and natural land, the construction of thousands of square metres of concrete and the potential impact on biodiversity in an area renowned for its preserved environments. Opponents point to the presence of protected species of amphibians and the risk of pollution of the river Bourges, whose banks will be the site of construction work and future infrastructure.
Over the years, the project has become a major bone of contention in the local community and beyond, between those who see it as a driving force for spiritual development and tourism, and those who see it as a symbol of concrete encroachment and religious megalomania.
Criticism is also levelled at the procedure: opponents accuse the State of having granted authorisations without a sufficiently thorough environmental impact assessment, and of having underestimated the issues at stake in the regional nature park. These local tensions are part of a national context in which major infrastructure projects are increasingly being challenged in the name of the climate, biodiversity and local democracy.
A ZAD in the making?
In this already tense climate, a ZAD (zone to be defended) was set up on the site in June 2020 by environmental activists, local residents and supporters from other struggles, determined to physically stop the work. For a few days, huts and tents were erected on the site to prevent the machines from moving and to make the protest visible, giving this affair a national dimension, like other territorial struggles in France. The occupation remained brief: at the request of the prefecture, the gendarmes intervened and evacuated the Zadists, with the representative of the State stating that there would be no ZAD in the Ardèche.
This irruption of a ZAD, however fleeting, had a major political impact. Under pressure from the media and activists, the prefecture brought together the various stakeholders, admitted that there were irregularities in the dossier and decided to suspend part of the works pending further environmental studies. Opponents saw this as a first success and continued to take the case to the courts and administrative bodies, while the Missionary Family of Notre-Dame defended the legality of its project and its spiritual vocation.
Work suspended
4 years later, the worksite is still subject to court rulings and expert appraisals, and the exact future of the basilica remains uncertain, a lasting symbol of a clash between visions of the land and the sacred in the Ardèche mountains, beyond the prefectural decree* that halted the works in March 2024.