Legislative in the Landes: the problems of the second constituency

Composed of an agglomeration – Grand Dax –, the district also covers the coastal intermunicipalities of Maremne Adour Côte sud (Macs) and Seignanx bordering the Basque metropolis. The populations are distributed more or less evenly in these communities, in “urban communes” or “rural peri-urban”. But its number doubles each summer season, with an influx of people in the towns closest to the beaches.

This being said, the attraction of this second Landes constituency, coupled with its economic dynamism, is not without raising major issues, which the local elected representatives will not fail to share with the deputy for the next five years.

1 The housing problem

In a territory with a constrained surface, how can we manage to house all those who want it, at a decent price? This multi-factor equation is, in the spring of 2022, the major problem affecting the second district of Landes.

Seven years after the Pinel law, promoting real estate programming and rental investment, only 5.3% of housing is vacant in the district. The health crisis has reduced the number of second homes, more than 21.5% in some municipalities. Seeking to rent a property year-round therefore means falling from Charybdis to Scylla, with an insufficient number of social or intermediate housing and skyrocketing rents.

If there is no lack of candidates for purchase, prices also remain on the rise and sales times are still just as short. “All values ​​are disrupted. Today, it’s not the new that drives the market, it’s the old,” explains Pascal Thibaut, vice-president of the Federation of property developers in the Sud Aquitaine sector. Owning a piece of garden in front of your home becomes a luxury. He gives the example of the price of a house of 380,000 euros, in Saint-Martin-de-Seignanx, which has become that of a T4 of 110 square meters with terrace, in two years, “quickly bought”.

2 Mobility and its cost

In this context of inflation, the voters of the second constituency of Landes are directly concerned by the question of mobility and its cost. According to a study by Insee, 22.2% of workers worked outside the department in 2018, while 48.3% changed municipalities to work.

Employees (30.5%), intermediate professions (25%) or workers (22.5%), almost 90% of them use a vehicle to do this. The result of a Macs survey reveals that “71% of home-work trips are less than 7 kilometers” in this community of municipalities. The inhabitants of the confines of Grand Dax must drive a dozen minutes to access the “common equipment” listed by INSEE.

The use of public transport remains anecdotal, even among the 28.7% of retirees in the constituency. The latest investment in favor of this collective mobility is the arrival of the Trambus, from Bayonne to Tarnos. Despite the development of cycle links, none goes from the coast to Dax station, the only one in the Landes where the TGV stops.

3 The economy: time to rebound

Prosperous, the constituency is. To say the opposite would be to deny the economic indicators, with “a successful recovery”, according to the president of the Dax commercial court. José Prosper, in his report for the year 2021, gives as proof of this rebound the 2,113 companies created, for a number of cancellations 13 points lower than the national average. “Two-thirds of new businesses set up near the sea: all tourism, accommodation and service activities are booming. »

The jobs generated by these activities are sometimes part-time or seasonal, as can be the hydrotherapy sector for Dax. Industry is present in the district through the aeronautical sector, in Tarnos, while the board sports sector, in Soorts-Hossegor, is trying to reinvent itself through small and medium-sized businesses.