Peace and security in public areas

With the police and the legal system, the State is tasked with ensuring the security of citizens. While Nantes posts a crime rate which is below the average for cities of a comparable size, such is not the case for delinquency and uncivil behaviour in the city centre, the priority areas and the sensitive urban areas.

To help combat this situation, in December 2009 the City signed a local security agreement with the Police, the Public Prosecutor, the General Council and the Education Authority. This agreement will run until 2013 with six priority objectives. These consist in combating arson (vehicles, rubbish bins, communal parts of apartment buildings), rodeos, loitering in building entrance halls, gatherings linked with drug dealing and petty trafficking, uncivil behaviour in public transport, drunkenness, sources of nuisance, and graffiti, taking place on a recurrent basis.

With the changes made to the City's social mediation programme, the "district mediators" (formerly the "night correspondents") now start their rounds earlier in the day. Moreover, their missions are now increasingly focused on proximity, easing tensions and social mediation.

The programme, which initially concerned 5 districts (Bellevue, Breil, Dervallières, Malakoff and Nantes Nord) was extended to two more districts in 2010: Halvêque / Ranzay et Bottière / Pin-Sec. It now rests on 24 mediators, including 4 heads of sectors coordinated by a mediation service manager from the Optima organisation. The mediators are present in 7 priority districts, 5 days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday.

In the greater city-centre area, this programme is backed by a 4-person street team tasked with easing tensions between users of public areas, shopkeepers and vagrants.

In order to allow equitable access to the greater city-centre area, the number of regulated parking spaces in yellow and red zones had been increased from 7,000 to 11,000 in 2009. In 2010, the City made further efforts by creating three new blue zones (ZAC Bottière-Chenaie, Boulevard St Aignan, and Boulevard Pasteur/La Montagne) adding another 38 parking spaces.

In 2010, a motorbike car park opened up, providing 350 spaces. Another blue zone project was completed in the 1st quarter 2011, providing an additional 63 parking spaces.

Public peace and order

• Residents' complaints dropped by 30% between 2009 and 2010 concerning excessive noise from bars and discotheques.
• The district mediators calmed 90 squabbles and carried out 39 mediations.
• 22 fines were issued for traffic violations

Urban travel and parking

• 7,814 parking spaces in yellow zones, 2,643 in red zones, and 413 in blue zones
• 11% increase in the number of parking permits issued

Markets and festive events in public areas

• The average occupancy rate for stalls on all markets was 83%
• 618 by-laws were passed to authorise events in public areas (mainly Le Printemps des Voisins and jumble sales).

Fight against hazards

• 110 food safety inspections were carried out in 2010, including 50 in restaurants, 16 in the municipal markets and 14 in mobile vendors' facilities.