Environmentalists thought they'd won an important victory in their ten year battle with the ski resort of Ste Foy over the Vallon du Clou. Somewhat to the surprise of all parties, on the 25th March 2013 the Environment Minister announced that the valley would be listed. No ski lifts, no buiding. End of.
Or perhaps not. The Mayor of Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise Raymond Bimet and the local council are promising to fight to the bitter end. "When we met with the Prefect last July we imagined there would be some measures to limit the consequences of the listing. But today its clear there is nothing for us". The mayor says that its not right and explains that the UTN, a global planning procedure, of 1992 permits him to build 82 500 m² of beds and construct 11 ski lifts in the two Clou valleys. "This order puts the Prefect's signature in question, and without any quid-pro-quo", he complains. Mountain Wilderness, who were part of the long campaign, point out that only 3 of the lifts were given explicit authorization, the other 8 were subject to further agreement. Bimet says that "if they can't develop the Clou the station will never run at a profit, our opposition are rigid, they only understand the environment, they have no idea about business."
http://www.mountainwilderness.fr/IMG/pdf/joe_20130327_0073_00386069.pdf
http://www.mountainwilderness.fr/se-tenir-informe/communiques-de-presse/bonne-nouvelle-le-vallon-du-clou.html
Bimet says he'll withdraw his court procedure if the other side will reach an agreement with him; for example develop a ski piste in the Clou to return to Ste Foy but with the current listing he needs permission to run piste bashers and do avalanche control work. His other idea is to develop into the Camp Filleul or the Savone sectors. None of these ideas will please environmental groups.