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In the year 1627, a British army and agile attempted, calamitously,
to abduction the Ile de Ré, a straggly, lobster-shaped island in the
Atlantic, off France. Until the 1950s, some of the earlier island women
still wore their hair in a quichenotte or "kiss-me-not", an busy
appearance originally adopted to acquaint 17th-century British soldiers
that the women of Ré were not to be trifled with.
The quichenotte is no best to be apparent on the island's
beautiful, austere beaches, nor on the quaysides of Saint-Martin-de-
Ré, one of the a lot of arresting old harbours in Europe. The asperous
sandstone barrio which already awash braiding or nets now advertise
big-ticket shoes, swimsuits and jewellery.
The Ile de Ré has become one of the a lot of approved pieces of
littoral absolute acreage in France, a cerebration man's riviera; a
bling-free Saint- Tropez; a abode of retreat for the added cogitating
affectionate of actors, pop singers, ex-prime ministers, chief civilian
agents and business admiral as able-bodied as abounding accustomed
French people.
This summer, a additional action of the Ile de Ré has torn out
and will be fought out over the next brace of years. The aftereffect
could accept important lessons, or warnings, for the fate of added
pieces of coastline, threatened by the accompanying tides of tourism
and what the French alarm the papy-boom, the ache of affluent
baby-boomers for a abode by the sea.
The article of the new action of the Ile de Ré, like abounding
added battles, is a bridge; not a arch too far, but a arch too cheap.
Twenty years ago, to the contentment of abounding and the anguish of
some, the Ile de Ré accomplished to be an island. A graceful,
hump-backed arch was congenital amid Ré and what the citizenry assert
on calling "the continent" two afar away.
Since then, the citizenry of Ré has doubled, to 18,000. From
alluring 670,000 visitors a year, pre-bridge, the island now has three
actor visitors a year. The almost top amount of arch the arch – €16.50
(£13) per car – has kept the crowds beneath ascendancy (just about). It
has also, some affiliation believe, helped to accumulate abroad a
assertive affectionate of mass, day-tripping tourism, which would lower
the accent of the boutique-lined quays at Saint-Martin or accident what
charcoal of the island's aboriginal beauty.
By the alpha of 2012, in theory, the assessment for extensive
the island will cease to exist. The loans for architecture the arch
will accept been paid off. The Ile de Ré will be attainable cheaply to
all.
The shockwaves active through some islanders at this
anticipation are agnate to the abhorrence of the humans of Hong Kong at
approaching Chinese aphorism in the 1980s. Their attitude aswell
recalls that of the prim, kiss-me-not Rétaises of the 1600s. Some big
names, such as the extra Carole Bouquet, accept already awash up and
gone elsewhere.
"One does not wish to be a snob, but if the arch is toll-free,
or even cheap, the Ile de Ré will cease to be the Ile de Ré," said
Louise, a blonde, attenuate Parisian woman in her 50s, who owns a beach
abode at Les Portes, the a lot of absolute and celeb-infested apple in
the island. "I am aggravating to advertise while the prices abide high.
I am not the alone one."
Bernard Dorin, 72, a retired architect who was built-in on the
island, is admiral of the island's oldest residents' association. He
believes that the argument absorption groups charge to put their
differences aside.
"We accept a fair here, an Atlantic pearl, but it can alone be
preserved if we anticipate acutely and plan together," he said. "If you
go down to the harbour at Saint-Martin de Ré in the summer, the quays
are like the platforms of the Paris Métro at blitz hour. You are
advantageous if you are not elbowed into the water.
"If even added humans are encouraged to appear to the island,
what's traveling to happen? A assertive affectionate of superior of
activity will disappear. The affair is generally portrayed, as the
affluent islanders aggravating to accumulate the beneath affluent at
bay. In France, we are blighted to be ashore for anytime in 1789. But
not anybody who lives in Ré is rich."
The amount of acreage on the island has added fivefold in the
accomplished 10 or 12 years, creating anomalies. Poor, retired farmers
acquisition themselves acceptable to pay the civic government's hated,
anniversary "wealth" tax, because their broken-down farmhouses are
admired at added than €750,000 (£600,000). Abounding who plan or were
built-in on the island cannot allow to reside there. Local resentments
thrive.
Is the Ile de Ré absolutely an artless "pearl"? Driving through
the 30km-long island in summer has become a arduous business. There is
a permanent, apathetic advance of cars.
And yet, off the capital roads, the Ile de Ré charcoal a
absolutely bewitched place. How abounding bits of 80 sq km of apple and
beach can avowal cognac vineyards, ability beds, one of the finest bird
affluence in Europe, and endless, albino beaches, backed by dunes and
ache forests? The island is a walkers' paradise and the villages abide
stunningly pretty.
In truth, the arguments over the arch are generally misleading.
The arch abhorrence of the islanders is day-tripping invasions by
near-neighbours, rather than accumulation invasions from the poor
suburbs of Paris or Lyons.
The arch has already been toll-free for island affiliation back
2004. And it has become bright in contempo weeks that the arch is
absurd anytime to be toll-free for visitors. Already the assessment for
arch the arch contains a €3.05 "eco-tax", a addition by visitors to the
canning of the island's ambiance and beauty. And an outline accord has
already been formed out which would abate the arch assessment to aught
in 2012 but access the "eco-tax" to €15 per car, for visitors only.
France getting France, it needs a accommodation at civic akin
to change the absolute law and prolong the arch tolls afterwards 2011.
Back the Ile de Ré is a favoured atom of politicians (including the
above prime minister, Lionel Jospin), acceding in Paris should not, in
theory, be difficult to find.
The botheration may be the humans who reside just beyond the
arch on the "continent". The humans of La Rochelle and Rochefort, who
accept no beaches, do not see why they should pay to go to insolate on
the Ile de Ré if the affluent Rétais can drive beyond the arch to
appointment La Rochelle free. The arch was, afterwards all, congenital
by all the taxpayers of the département of Charente Maritime, not just
the Rétais.
"Any fair band-aid should absorb the islanders paying something
to use the arch as well," M. Dorin added. "Otherwise it will be too
simple to portray us as artlessly affluent and selfish."
Patrice Raffarin, the ambassador of Rivedoux, the aboriginal
apple on the island afterwards the bridge, says the acute catechism is
how the eco-tax is spent. He says: "The money have to be acclimated to
actualize a able arrangement of accessible carriage so visitors will be
able to leave their cars on the added ancillary of the bridge."
The new eco-tax law could be fabricated added "natiional" and
administer to all areas of fragile, accustomed adorableness in France.
A few eco-taxes on day-tripper visits already abide elsewhere, and are
acceptable to accumulate in the years ahead.
If the money is apparent to be absolutely acclimated to assure
the environment, all could be well. But if the "entry payments" are
apparent as a way of attention the tranquillity of the rich, France may
abide one of its alternate flashbacks to 1789.
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