The La Baule beach in Brittany, western France is reportedly being privatized. The beach is one of the largest and most popular beaches in France, so locals are not happy.
Three miles of the beach was handed over to the French utility company Veolia, which has plans to “renovate and maintain the access to the beach, maintain the toilet facilities and take care of the management of the 35 businesses that operate along the 5.4km stretch including bars, restaurants and beach clubs.”
In 2014 a storm damaged large areas of the beach and it was necessary to bring someone in to handle the costs of making the area usable again. But with the move to privatization the businesses that have been there for some time will have to turn into temporary structures. Rent is expected to increase by 57 percent which will push many of the businesses out of the area.
