Discover all the resources and news from the Cœur Pays de Retz community of communes

The Cœur Pays de Retz community of municipalities and Pornic agglo Pays de Retz share a territory in Loire-Atlantique where urban planning, waste management, soft mobility, and community life intersect. Understanding how the resources and news of these intercommunalities are articulated requires distinguishing their boundaries, their competencies, and the projects currently engaging residents.

Territorial Project 2026-2032: The Participatory Approach Redefining Priorities

Pornic agglo Pays de Retz has initiated the development of a territorial project covering the period 2026-2032. The chosen method is based on a survey open to residents, with paper materials distributed in the fifteen town halls and at the agglomeration’s office in Pornic.

This consultation targets several themes: mobility, housing, environment, local services. The expression booklets provided aim to gather opinions from less connected audiences, a choice that distinguishes this approach from simple online questionnaires.

To follow all deliberations, reports, and urban planning documents published by the Pays de Retz communities, you can consult the website www.coeurpaysderetz.fr where the sections are organized by theme.

Intercommunal Competencies in Pays de Retz: Comparative Table

The territory has two main intercommunalities whose boundaries and competencies do not fully overlap. The table below summarizes the areas of action as they emerge from official sites and public data.

Domain	Cœur Pays de Retz Community of Municipalities	Pornic agglo Pays de Retz
Number of member municipalities	Several municipalities around Machecoul-Saint-Même	15 municipalities, including Pornic
Waste management	Collection and sorting	Collection, sorting, recycling centers, awareness
Water and sanitation	Competence exercised	Competence exercised with investment program
Housing and urban planning	Municipal PLUs, support	Revising SCoT, PLH 2025-2030 launched
Mobility	Occasional actions	Cycling connection network, public transport
Culture and leisure	Workshops, local heritage	Swimming pools, Thomas Narcejac amphitheater, Semaphore of Pointe Saint-Gildas
Social action	Solidarity, Local Mission of Pays de Retz	Solidarity and rights, family support

However, the two structures share the same living area. A resident of Pazanne or Saint-Père-en-Retz may fall under one intercommunality for waste collection and turn to the other for certain cultural or sports services.

SCoT and PLH in Pays de Retz: What the Ongoing Revisions Change

The revision of the Territorial Coherence Scheme (SCoT) of Pays de Retz and the launch of the Local Housing Program (PLH) 2025-2030 constitute two projects that directly impact the daily lives of residents. The SCoT sets the development guidelines at the scale of several intercommunalities, while the PLH regulates housing production, social mix objectives, and the fight against inadequate housing.

The PLH determines the volume and type of housing allowed in each municipality for the coming years. In Pornic, the municipality has already announced its intention to limit the height of buildings at the city entrance, a strong signal regarding controlled densification of the coastline.

Conversely, the more rural municipalities of the territory (around Machecoul or Paulx) do not face the same land pressure. Their challenge is more about maintaining local services and shops than regulating real estate pressure.

Second Homes and Tourist Rentals: A Growing Issue

Pornic, a victim of its seaside attractiveness, has begun to tighten regulations on second homes and tourist rentals. This type of measure, already observed in other coastal resorts, aims to preserve access to housing for permanent residents. The PLH currently under development should formalize these guidelines at the intercommunal level.

Waste Sorting and Cycling Connections: Two Concrete Actions of the Territory

Waste sorting remains a local issue that engages the intercommunalities of Pays de Retz. A recent check conducted in the territory of the community in Loire-Atlantique confirmed that waste sorted by residents is indeed directed to recycling channels, contradicting a persistent misconception.

The resources provided online by the intercommunalities detail sorting instructions, recycling center hours, and voluntary drop-off points. Three concrete elements structure local action:

• Aware campaigns in schools and during community events to improve source sorting rates.
• A network of recycling centers accessible to residents of member municipalities, with time slots adapted for working individuals.
• The development of shared composters in several towns in the territory, in line with regulatory obligations regarding bio-waste.

On the mobility front, the neighboring Sud Retz Atlantique community of municipalities has initiated the creation of a cycling connection between Légé and Touvois. This type of project illustrates a trend shared by the entire Pays de Retz: connecting towns in ways other than by car.

Community Life and Heritage in Pays de Retz

The associative fabric is a pillar of the territory. The Local Mission of Pays de Retz, based in Saint-Viaud, supports young people in their professional integration with monthly sessions. Choirs like Chœur de Retz in Vue are resuming their activities, while workshops for restoring local heritage animate municipalities like Les Moutiers-en-Retz, where a mural was recently created on the entrance door of the town.

These initiatives do not always appear on intercommunal portals. They circulate through town hall websites, municipal bulletins, and local associative networks, making monitoring more fragmented for residents.

Pays de Retz thus focuses its resources on structuring issues (urban planning, waste, mobility) while leaving ample room for local initiative. The territorial project 2026-2032 will be the reference document to measure, in a few years, whether the priorities expressed by residents have truly guided public action.