Tuesday 17 November 2009

Remember Square One?

After a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce a few weeks ago, we discovered that all we needed to do was make a Simple Declaration at the Mairie and our yurt camp would be up and running. The Maire wouldn't even need to send it for approval from the regional capital.

So we picked up the forms for a Simple Declaration from the Mairie. (Imagine here a photo of many, many sheets of paper, all numbered, in triplicate.)

Her Outdoors filled it in.

She took it back to the Mairie to ask if she'd done it right.

The Secretary looked shocked. How the hell would she know? The only people who know are the Planning People (remember them). We must phone them and ask. They answer the phones from Tuesday to Thursday, she added helpfully.

Today is the next Tuesday. Her Outdoors phoned and was invited to a two o'clock meeting.

She went and saw a very familiar face, and found (among other things):
o We could apply for permission using the Simple Declaration but there is no point, as the people in the regional capital will only reject it.
o Buying the Shack didn't change our case in the slightest - why don't we buy a piece of land with camping already on it? Or apply to have our land re-zoned?
o The Maire can't decide on camping using Simple Declarations any more - everything has to get sent to the regional capital.
o The regional capital has just decreed (by 'just' I mean "just" - the woman Her Outdoors spoke to was the only person in Planning to know this) that all camping must now be applied for formally, with a CU (regular readers will know what this means).

So it seems we've come full circle. Back to the beginning.

It's OK though. I have a few ideas.

1 comment:

SometimesIevensurprisemyself . . . said...

look at it another way - NOT 'square one', just a launchpad for possibilities . . .