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retirement village in the Gers


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I read in this month's French News that a dutch company has bought some land in a village in the Gers and plans to build 327 retirement homes. It's expected they will be sold to mainly foreign retirees. The Maire of the village - Castelnau d'Azan, supports the plan but many locals are against it, and Phillipe Martin supports the opposition..The complex will provide medical and mobility assistance. I don't know what to make of this, except to say that I'm glad it's not in our commune. Pat.

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Well that seems most peculiar.

It seems to me that all the medical/mobility and other support staff would have to be bi-lingual (at least). Where are they going to come from?

Who is Phillipe Martin though?  Sorry but googling the name didn't help, obviously...LOL

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He's the main man politically in the Gers. On re-reading the article, it's possible that the pland is still in the discussion stages. Maybe they won't get the permissions needed. And French News sometimes make mistakes. Pat.

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I don't see what is so wrong with the idea. Southern England is full of such places, and they don't seem to cause any problems, execpt perhaps from putting a bit more strain on certain public services where there is a large concentration of elderly people. I certainly don't see all of this drug and alcohol abuse, vandalism, lack of respect, asbos, violence and all the other things that the Daily Mail tells us we have in abundance in Britain (unless it all goes on behind closed doors of course). Maybe we need more of these places.

Seriously, reading some of the other topics, geriatric care in France is not, by all accounts, the country's strongest point, being largely left up to the family to deal with. How it will cope with those with no family here and unable to go back to their own countries is a big unanswered question, so this looks like a good idea - as long as the residents can pay for it of course because I don't know who else is going to.

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The name of the village is actually Castelnau d'Auzan and there's a discussion forum if you look on Google. The only reservation I would have is that if a french village is flooded with immigrants there's more likely to be a hostile reception from the locals. Pat.

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"Retirement villages" are are quite common in the US. I am not sure that they are all that great, in an ideal world, especially since it is only the wealthy retirees who can usually afford them - but I am also puzzled by your comment, Pat, about "not in our commune". Surely, a retirement village does not warrant the same response as would a rubbish dump! (or perhaps I am misunderstanding you...)
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I couldn't find the forum again either. I think it was run by the company who intend to build the village. "not in our commune" - if the retirement village was for  french people I wouldn't mind. The reason I said that was that if an area is flooded with foreigners there's usually trouble from some locals. . Perhaps I'm a coward but that's me! I like to keep a low profile. Pat.

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Now I see what you really meant, Pat. For a brief moment I thought it was the notion of having large numbers of elderly people living in one particular area, which was of concern to you. It will be interesting to see what (if anything) develops, or wether the project will be shelved.

It would be strange indeed, if the 327 homes planned would be sold "only" to foreigners. I would expect there to be a mix, but who knows? If they are luxury homes, maybe it's only for Russians and Chinese. Or would it be for Northern Europeans primarily?  Very interesting to speculate how this would be perceived not just by the locals, but by other French people as a whole. And where the notion of "communautarisme" would fit in, since in France it is thought that integration is the only way forward, as opposed to multi-culturalism. So, having hundreds of "non-French" (even very senior ones) parked over one particular area should raise a few eyebrows, if indeed it does go ahead.

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We have a house in  a village nearby and from what I understand this is to be a retirement home just for the Dutch who are already colonising the local area.  From what I hear from our very friendly French neighbours and friends they are not at all happy with the current situation where the Dutch don't seem interested in integrating or using any of the local businesses.  The building of what would amount to be a Dutch ghetto is a terrible prospect and I can't understand why the local Maire would be encouraging this.  Retirement villages aren't a problem but race specific ones are a frightening prospect.  Maybe I don't know all the facts but I've heard about this many times and from many people so I have to assume there is a some truth in it. 
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I know nothing of this particular project but we have several cases in our part of France where maires support projects when the community is largely opposed. The reasons for this are inevitably financial - either the maire stands to gain personally, or there are incentives from the developers to the commune.
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I may be missing something and this is a little off subject but I wonder how in the long term a retirement village can work in France. It seems to me that it would just be a matter of time with the French inheritance laws that the elderly that buy the property would soon be replaced by their children, therefore, eventually no longer being a retirement centre [8-)].
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  • 1 month later...
An update on this story. The land which the developer wants to use has been declared constructible. ( Depeche de Midi 2nd March.) Full planning permission expected in July. A sociologist is going to do a 5 year study of the project. WJT's point is interesting. It's expected that the buyers of these expensive villas - about 500000 euros - will be british and dutch so that means foreign "children". Pat.

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I would imagine that when the elderly owner(s) of one of these retirement homes dies, and their children inherit the property, it would simply be sold on to other retirees.  Certainly this is the case in those 'Over 55' developments in the UK where you have to be in the right age group to qualify as a resident.  I gather that some management companies used to undertake to buy back an apartment if the occupant died but I don't know if they still do - I guess it depends on how popular the development is.

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[quote user="Lori"]

And whether or not the inheriting children want to live in the inherited house themselves.

[/quote]

I am guessing that what Val is saying is that, if they are run along the same lines as retirement villages outside France, the children couldn't live in them - whether or not they wanted to.  The property has to be occupied by someone over the cut off age (55 usually in the UK).

Kathie

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So its a plan to build 327 home in village of 1000 people. planned by a Dutch company who will be aiming it at prosperous north european purchasers. Not hard to see why the boss of the Conseil Regionale, the socialist Philip Martin might be able to play on local fears that the character of the village would change.

You can see some of the local feelings, newspaper reports at  http://auzan.superforum.fr/Auzan-Demain-f5.htm

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BJSLV - thanks for the link - this is really fascinating reading. It is still hard to tell what is really going on though, with all the internal quarrels....

What the project represents for some, is the revitalisation of their village, new job opportunities, etc...

For others, it represents a kind of takeover/colonisation - some are concerned they would have to speak English (50% of the retirees expected are going to be British apparently, Dutch being a minority), and that it will affect tradition and terroir (cheese instead of duck). There is fear that the retirement village is going to be a closed, walled-up community with luxurious facilities inside. Many of the arguments against the project are clearly generated by resentment towards wealthy, and foreign, non-French speakers. But there are also possibly conflicts of personality, old grudges from some towards their mayor (favourable to the project), which are being aired in this way.

Some of the issues are very complex. Since it does not seem to be the first project of its kind,  it would be interesting to see what has happened in the already existing ones.

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  • 7 months later...

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