The clearing opened in 2014 in the Chambaran forest near Roybon, in the Isère department, is usually listed at 76 hectares, roughly the size of a hundred football pitches. It was intended to host a giant Center Parcs. Not a single vacationer ever passed through, and none of the 990 cottages planned were built: today there remain about 700 meters of concrete, roundabouts, and foundations that ferns are gradually covering.
Twelve years after the start of the work, the site is still empty.
- The construction site began in 2014 at Roybon, in Isère, without a single cottage having been built.
- Pierre et Vacances withdrew in July 2020 after more than ten years of legal challenges and land occupation.
- Today, about 700 meters of concrete and foundations remain in the clearing.
A 390-million-euro project for a village of 1,000 inhabitants
The story begins in 2007, when the Pierre et Vacances group approaches the commune of Roybon, just over 1,000 residents on the edge of the Drôme. The project is valued at 390 million euros and was meant to revive a rural area in decline. It envisioned 990 cottages and a water-play area across 203 hectares, including a permanently heated glass bubble that would shelter tropical plants. The departmental council and the regional council pledged to fund the roads and networks needed to access the future domain.
The opportunity seemed obvious in a village where shops had almost all closed. The group promised 700 jobs, for a site designed to accommodate more than 5,000 vacationers.
On the public financing side, the department planned 7 million euros to acquire in bare ownership some key facilities (access, roads, networks, part of the forest) and the commune 4 million for a bypass around the village. The total public funds committed were estimated at 37.4 million euros, a figure cited by opponents as well as by local press.
76 hectares, 90 hectares, 110 hectares: the battle of the figures
On October 3, 2014, an authorization to destroy wetlands was granted to SNC Roybon Cottages under the Water Act. The construction began in the same month, even though the public inquiry commission, convened from April 16 to May 28, 2014, had issued a unfavorable opinion. The record of this phase of works is heavy: 90 hectares cleared, 31 hectares paved with concrete, and 110 to 120 hectares of degraded wetlands. The runways, roundabouts, and foundations are all that would be built.
The figure of 76 hectares, the one in the title, points in official documents to the wetlands destroyed as Center Parcs had evaluated them, while the inquiry commission placed them between 110 and 120 hectares. According to publications, the clearing itself is described with areas ranging from 40 to 90 hectares cleared. It is therefore better to stick to an order of magnitude rather than a precise square-meter measurement.
The tally varies by source, but the verdict remains unchanged: zero cottages.
Ten years of appeals, a ZAD and a withdrawal in July 2020
Legal challenges have piled up since 2010 before the administrative courts. They are led by the association Pour les Chambarans sans Center Parcs, fishing federations, and several environmental groups. The project alternated setbacks and victories, until a major legal reversal in May 2019. On the ground, a zone to defend emerged in 2014 right next to the site, on land owned by the State.
On July 8, 2020, Pierre et Vacances withdrew. The group cited a deforestation permit that had become ineffective and an access blocked by “zadists” who have illegally occupied the land since 2014. Its founder, Gérard Brémond, admitted that this was “not with a merry heart,” while the group counts 25 Center Parcs in Europe.
The associations spoke of victory, but their treasury was drained as a result.
The withdrawal also led to a 41-million-euro impairment in Pierre et Vacances’ accounts. For the opponents, the takeaway is succinct: a timely legal challenge is sometimes worth more than a subsidy voted too hastily.
A clearing that still awaits its future
By 2026, the paved tracks remain, overtaken by vegetation. The land largely belongs to Pierre et Vacances, which has given no clear indication about the future of these roughly 200 hectares at the time of the abandonment. Any restoration efforts struggle to materialize, caught between owners and regulations.
A local consultation now brings together farmers, foresters, hunters, and environmental groups in an attempt to give the clearing a purpose. According to some publications, these lands have become a non-buildable forest area, destined for ecological and silvicultural management.
On the legal front, a ruling from the Grenoble Administrative Court, issued on April 13, annulled the project’s inclusion in the PLUi of the Bièvre-Isère Community of Communes. The applicant, a regional councillor and local resident, saw in it the end of more than ten years of struggle. The local elected press, meanwhile, ran headlines about a “blessing in disguise” for the Chambarans territory.
Sources: questions.assemblee-nationale.fr | le-bouillon-larochelle.fr | rse-magazine.com
