The Community of agglomeration

History and appearance in French right

The concept of Agglomération raises more Géographie, Political science that Droit. Indeed, the Droit was interested in a disparate way in the concept of Agglomération before its effective and homogeneous emergence in the substantive law with law 99-586 of the July 12th 1999 relating to the reinforcement and simplification of the intercommunality known as Loi Chevènement . Before this law, in Right, the definition of the Agglomération was related mainly to the highway code. The first treating text of the Agglomération was the decree of July 10th, 1954 relating to the police force of the road traffic giving a purely material definition of the Agglomération like " a grouping of buildings if not contiguous, at least sufficiently brought closer, located in edge of the public highway and giving to this one the aspect of a street ". It is noted that right from the start the character urbanized (here the " grouping of buildings ") the field of the Agglomération defines. The decree of December 15th, 1958 does nothing but take again the formulation of the material criterion (R1 article of the highway code) but by founding a formal criterion relating to " limit of the agglomerations which must be defined by the mayor under approval of the Prefect ".

Then two modifications were operated by the decree of June 30th, 1972. On the one hand, the indication of the Agglomeration by panels of entry and exit constitutes the second alternate shutter of the formal criterion. In addition, the concept d'" space " in the material criterion of definition of the Agglomération (" appears; the agglomeration is a space on which are grouped built buildings . In fact, the reference to space returns to the urbanized perimeter. Indeed, l'" space " do not marry a functional reality, it does not take into account economic relations of interdependences. Therefore, the Agglomération according to the highway code is defined according to these three cumulative criteria, the second formal criterion being for the government commissioner Ronny Abraham that a simple presumption making it possible to return determining the material criterion. The code does not lay down any condition of continuity in the definition of urbanized space and that the agglomeration can be made up of a few hundreds of inhabitants as several hundreds of thousands since no condition of population density is fixed.

But this apparent unit in the definition of the Agglomeration mask in truth its deep heterogeneity because the application of these criteria of definition is absent from certain fields of the right where the concept of agglomeration is used. Indeed, there exist other legal references to the agglomeration but without definition not clarifying of anything the concept of Agglomération specifies to see. Therefore, the " legal concept of agglomeration suffers from a conceptual Aporie by the absence of a unit and precise definition to be used validly juridically . This Aporie is all the more prejudicial as the agglomeration acquires an important scale in the French territorial sociological landscape since 80% of the French Population saw in urbanized spaces extending on several common constituting urban surfaces, basins of employment, axes of definition of " relevant territories ". Indeed, " the emergence of relevant territories such as the agglomerations and the countries constitutes one of the changes major of the decade which is completed ". This change consists of the apprehension of a relevant perimeter of social cohesion, cultural, geographical and economic in which a territorial solidarity can be effective on the basis of joint project. Therefore, the Aporie concerning the legal definition of the Agglomération will be solved by the integration of this change by integrating statistical elements (for example concepts of urban surface or basins of employment) or geographical in the criteria of legal definition of the agglomeration.

This will be made stalemate the law known as " Chevènement" allowing the emergence of an effective definition of the agglomeration in right and the institutional translation of the agglomeration by the creation of a new inter-commune public corporation: community of agglomeration.

It as should be noted as since 1982, date of the first decentralization, wanted by the Mitterrand team - Removes iron, (and all texts which followed in direct object, Chevènement included) the areas were to replace, in the near future, the departments, and the same, the communities of communes, agglo or urban were to replace almost the commune. The goal being to make economies in term of structures, investment, material and employees. At present, this beautiful theory seems denatured a little, we have the communities of agglo well, but the expenditure is double even triple, the departments are always a layer of the territorial collectivities… Today, it is necessary to take into account: the commune, community of agglomeration, the department, the area, and the state… Each one is its competent, raises taxes and taxes and expenditure as good seems to him…

Legal definition

In France, the community of agglomeration is a public corporation of inter-commune co-operation instituted by law 99-586 of the July 12th 1999 relating to the reinforcement and the simplification of the intercommunality known as Loi Chevènement .

The purpose of this law was to simplify the very complex French administrative landscape, in particular while making disappear the districts and by decreasing the number of intercommunity associations.

The community of agglomeration is an intermediate grade of co-operation between the Communauté of communes and the Urban community. The elected officials concerned can create it under three conditions:

1/ It must comprise a minimum of 50  000 inhabitants;

2/ It must comprise a commune of at least 15  000 inhabitants;

3/ It must be geographically of only one holding and without enclaves.

Some exceptions to these principles exist.

Thus, the first condition is not required if the communities of agglomeration result from the transformation of an establishment existing with the publication date of the law (District, Communauté of communes or community of cities. Thus, the creation of the community of agglomeration of Flers in comparison with the second condition, whereas it has less 30  000 inhabitants.

The second condition either if the community comprises the chief town of department. Thus the community of agglomeration of Deprived, (Ardèche).

The third, finally, for example for the membership of Rennes Metropolis of the exclavée commune of the Orchard.

Competences

The law imposes on the communities agglomeration the exercise of certain competences: economic development, information system strategic plan of transport, programs local habitat, Politique of the city. In other fields, it grants rights but leaves at the communities more latitude to exert them or not: roadway system, Cleansing, Drinking water, Environment and Waste cultural S, equipment and sportsmen (3 quoted competences at least among the 5).

Taxation

The principal resource of the community of agglomeration is the Professional tax, whose rate must become single on its territory, after one transitional period of a few years. The resources specific to certain possible competences are added to it (royalty of cleansing, surtaxes drinking water, payment transport, tax of removal/treatment of the household refuse) and the device of assistance set up by the State, helps intended to disappear gradually

Statistical data

In a few years, many communities of agglomeration were born in France:

  • 2000: 50 creations (year of installation of the Law)
  • 2001: 40
  • 2002: 30
  • 2003: 23
  • 2004: 12
  • 2005: 7
  • 2006: 2
  • 2007: 5

On the whole, today 169 communities of agglomeration gather more than twenty million inhabitants.

See also: List of the communities of agglomeration per area

There remain only some cities likely to create new communities of agglomeration in the next years. One can quote as example:

External bonds

  • the assessment of the intercommunality to the 1 {{er}} January 2006 by the Head office of Local government agencies (DGCL)
  • Parliament of the Communities of France
  • Cartography of the urban intercommunality to the 1 {{er}} January 2006
  • Repertory of the countries and agglomeration of association ETD
  • Heading Decentralization & Intercommunalité of the Bulletin of the Communes

See too

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