Lead projects for the protection and enhancement of the natural heritage of the Landes

The Law of July 18, 1985, supplemented since by various texts (article L 113-8 of the Urban Planning Code) stipulates that: “The Department is competent to develop and implement a policy for the protection, management and public access of Sensitive Natural Areas, wooded or not, intended to preserve the quality of sites, landscapes, natural environments and natural flood expansion fields and to ensure the safeguarding of natural habitats (…)”. To achieve this objective, the Department has two means: - a legal tool which gives it the power to create Pre-emption Zones under Sensitive Natural Areas (ZPENS); - a financial tool, with the possibility of instituting the Development Tax, collected on building and development permits and which makes it possible to finance actions which, in a way, “compensate” for the consumption of spaces linked to urbanization. This “ENS” competence places the Department, not only as a key player in the policy of protecting natural heritage, both through its direct role and through its contributions to policies led by other actors, but also as one of the major players in the departmental land use planning and sustainable development policy. In continuity with the policies undertaken for more than 20 years, the Departmental Assembly adopted, on March 27, 2018, the Scheme…