Commissaires-enquêteurs play an essential role in urban planning procedures. They are responsible for conducting, in an impartial manner, the public inquiry required for the completion of projects or the approval of plans or programs with an impact on the environment, or as part of expropriation procedures. The INAO also works closely with these players in the context of requests for consultative opinions on urban planning documents.

This training day, organized twice a year, enables the various commissaires-enquêteurs operating throughout the Burgundy region to share their experiences, train new profiles, discuss any difficulties they may have encountered during public inquiries, and update their knowledge of the regulatory bases. In 2023, this training course was held at the DREAL in Dijon. Manon Balan, Ingénénieure Terroir et Délimitation at the Délégation Territoriale Centre-Est, accompanied by Edith Toulemonde Le Ny from the Service Territoire et Délimitation, took part.

Learning exchanges

This was an opportunity to present to the audience the role and actions of the INAO in terms of land protection and, more particularly, urban planning, through the illustration of two concrete cases of infringement of production potential under appellation, in which the INAO intervened. For the investigating commissioners, these exchanges were an opportunity to get to know INAO better, and to know that they can contact us whenever they wish, in particular to go into more detail on the points raised in our opinions. For the INAO, in addition to discussions on the missions of the investigating commissioners, this meeting enabled us to better identify the people to whom we invite the ODGs to contact during public inquiries. The Institute was able to take advantage of the discussions to gain a better understanding of how the opinions issued by the INAO are taken into account in the reports of the commissaires-enquêteurs and then in the town planning documents. After Champagne in 2022; and Burgundy in 2023, INAO will continue these exchanges with commissaires-enquêteurs at a future meeting, this time in Occitania.