You are the first woman elected mayor of Saint-Tropez. How was your election welcomed by the people of Saint-Tropez?
S. S. My election seems to have been very well received. I feel a strong expectation around my person and this is a great motivation for me and the municipal team that I have the honour to lead. Many challenges await us and my team and I will passionately defend our exceptional territory and its international reputation.
How do you see the coming season?
S. S. Hoping that we will be able to emerge from this pandemic situation in the spring, I am working every day to prepare for the summer season with the aim of being ready to accompany the economic recovery and to offer our professionals, shopkeepers and managers the most favourable conditions possible. For this season, we are going to focus on three points:
• security, which will involve developing the video protection network by installing new cameras in the old town, the village and the outlying areas.
• cleanliness, with the improvement of household waste collection in the commune, by creating underground containers in the town centre.
• health with the project such as the multidisciplinary health centre which should be operational at the end of the year.
In addition, the City will renew various measures such as, for example, the extension of terraces. I have also created a budget line to support initiatives and projects for cultural events in order to make the town more attractive. And above all, I want to develop our tourism policy by involving local economic players more closely and by setting new objectives within the framework of more responsible tourism that is more respectful of the environment in the broadest sense.
Can we expect to see new cultural events or projects this year?
S. S. Indeed, some very nice events are in preparation. At the time of writing, although it is difficult to project the events, I hope with all my heart to be able to host the first edition of a Food and Wine event at the end of May, which would bring together the “Esprit Vin” trade show organised by Esprit Village and the “Producers’ Festival” project led by the economic players of the UMT with the great chefs of Saint Tropez.
We are also counting on the return of Elektra Future Saint-Tropez, the electric motocross competition which was a world premiere in the town centre last year, and above all, on September 11th and 12th, the French Grand Prix of the “Formula 1 of the seas” Sail GP, a very spectacular nautical event in which “flying” catamarans capable of exceeding 50 knots compete. An international event that will be the talk of Saint-Tropez and its port, a fortnight before the Voiles de Saint-Tropez! We will also be hosting a professional ATP tournament at the Pierre-Philippot municipal tennis centre in partnership with the Jo-Wilfried Tsonga academy. This competition, scheduled from 26 August to 5 September, should attract renowned French and international players.
Finally, we are also expecting the inauguration of our new Marcel Aubour football stadium, which will be one of the major events of this autumn. As far as cultural projects are concerned, four exhibitions are planned in our museums, including a retrospective of the work of Nadia Léger at the Annonciade, a fresco retracing the history of the Gendarmerie at the Gendarmerie and Cinema Museum and the opening of a new room in the autumn in our maritime history museum. Concerts are also being considered at the citadel, but we need to wait for confirmation.
Do you have any immediate plans for the infrastructure and heritage of the community?
S. S. We have drawn up a multi-year investment programme which should enable us to spread our renovation and rehabilitation projects over the duration of the mandate, which is six years. This year, studies will be commissioned to launch the creation of a space dedicated to the missing and essential shops, the short-term construction of an athletics track at the Salins stadium, renovate the Renaissance cinema-theatre with a room dedicated to festivals and theatre and another for the cinema, rehabilitate the COSEC sports hall and, finally, create new rental accommodation in the premises of the finance office, which will be moving next year.
At the same time, we are continuing the rehabilitation, already underway, of the jewels of our rich heritage: the Sainte-Anne chapel, the château de la Moutte-domaine Emile Olivier, the bell tower of our parish church and the citadel, which requires immediate safety work.
With the new Marcel Aubour stadium which will be operational during the first half of the year, you can see that we are not short of activities or projects. All the more so since, in terms of town planning, the beginning of 2021 is intense with the drawing up of a new PLU and the discussion of the SCoT (Schéma territorial de cohésion) within the Community of Municipalities. On this last subject, I would like to emphasise that I will be extremely vigilant in preserving our village and its territory, because this scheme will have a significant impact on our future, both economically and in terms of our attractiveness to tourists.
