Allauch


Allauch is a French commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France.

Geography

Location

Allauch is the seat of the canton of Allauch. It is a part of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis.
The commune had inhabitants as of 2019.
It is located 12 km north-east of Marseille, 10 km north-east of Aubagne and 35 km south of Aix-en-Provence. Access to the commune is by the D908 road from Marseille in the south-west passing through the commune and continuing north to join the D96 north of La Bouilladisse. Access to the village is by the D48 branching off the D908 and looping back as the D48A. There is also the D4A road from the 11th arrondissement in the south, and the D44G from the 12th arrondissement in the south-west.
As Allauch is located on the edge of the Marseille conurbation there are numerous urban districts located within the commune. These are:
  • 405 Santo Estello
  • Bon Rencontre
  • Carlevan
  • Enco de Pont
  • La Bourdonniere
  • La Tuiliere
  • Les Aubagnens
  • Les Embucs
  • Les Grands Louis
  • Les Maurins
  • Les Rampins
  • Les Rascous
  • Les Tourres
  • Mordeau
  • Saint-Roch

    Neighbouring communes and villages

Urbanism

Allauch Village is located on the north-eastern fringe of the Marseille conurbation with large parts of the west of the commune also forming part of this conurbation joining with Plan-de-Cuques to the west.
Allauch is separated from Mimet by the massif of l'Étoile, resulting in it being necessary to detour to Cadolive in order to go from Allauch to Mimet. Similarly it is separated from the Aubagne urban area by the Garlaban hills to the south-east. Apart from the urban area in the west of the commune, the rest is heavily forested and mountainous.

Housing

Each year Allauch pays about €200,000 for missing social housing in order to reach the 20% required by the Urban Renewal Law. According to the commune however, available land is limited: of the 5,032 hectares of the commune a total of 4,000 is conservation land, 500 are already urbanized and the balance is sometimes affected by risks. Recent increases in the price of land suitable for building has resulted in increasing difficulties in growing the social housing stock.
The City Council has decided that each construction project should have between 20% and 30% social housing. The first obstacle is that the commune owns little suitable land in built-up areas to build social housing. The value of the land is very high and the commune must sell land to social housing operators at well below the actual value. Furthermore, the municipality must guarantee 50% of the borrowings and contribute financially up to €20,000 per unit. The procedures are slow and it can take 3 or 4 years from the sales agreement and delivery of the first housing.
Another obstacle is that, in 2006, 108 applications for social housing were made by the commune but only 48 were granted by the urban community to which the state has delegated its powers, while the State requires the construction of 64 units per year.
According to the Abbe Pierre Foundation for Disadvantaged Housing, of 319 housing units the commune should have built between 2002 and 2006 it has neither built nor funded any, something that Allaudiens were far from disapproving having re-elected the Povinelli list of candidates by 81.15% in the local elections in 2008.
The commune may have another opportunity to fulfil its obligation by purchasing existing housing through preemption to transform social housing.

Communications and transport

Communal Transport

;RTM Routes
  • Bus Route 144 connects the metro station at Marseille-La Rose to La Pounche, Pie d'Autry, and Allauch-Village.
  • Bus Route 142/142JET/143 connect the Marseille-la-Rose metro station to Logis-Neuf, La Bourdonniere, and La Fève.
  • Bus Route 7T connects the Métro-Bus-Tramway Foch-Cinq-Avenues to Barbaraou.
;Buses to the Hills
The Hills buses connect to different urban areas of Allauch at certain times:
  • Route A: La Fève - le Logis-Neuf – Allauch-Village – Carlevan - Les Embus - Marseille, with a bus every 30 minutes from 7:00 to 9:30am and 4:30 to 7:00pm.
  • Route B: Plan-de-Cuques – Allauch-Village – Fontvieille - Carlevan, with a bus every 20 minutes from 7:00 to 9:30am and 4:30 to 7:00pm.

    Geology

Seismicity

The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region has areas at risk of seismic activity, particularly in the Nice and Aix-en-Provence areas, but for Allauch the risks are negligible.

Hydrology

Detailed article: Canal de Marseille.
The Jarret is the main river in Allauch. Together with the Huveaune it was one of the only sources of water for Marseille for a long time. There are also two canals in the commune: the Canal de Provence and the Canal de Marseille, both built to supply many communes, but primarily Marseille, with drinking water and also for irrigation.

Climate

Allauch has a Mediterranean climate: precipitation is mainly in September to May with a peak in October–November and a rather wet and mild winter. The summers are hot and dry.
'''Weather Data for Allauch'''

History

One of the objects found in the Baume Sourno Cave may have been used as a wedding gift for the young Gyptis. The history of Marseille has a story that Marseille was born from the union of a handsome Greek sailor and the daughter of King Nann, the chief of a Ligurian tribe around the year 600 BC. However, historians believe that Allauch was the chief town of a Ligurian tribe called ségobrige. The beautiful Gyptis could have been allaudienne and Marseille girl from Allauch. In Provence and in Allauch in particular people like legends.
A Coat of Arms was adopted by the town in 1727 and refers to the commune being the seat for the Saracens: in the 10th century the Moors besieged the village. At the brink of starvation the villagers, to deceive the enemy, sent twenty loaves and their remaining spear points. The Saracens were discouraged, imagining that abundance reigned behind the walls. They broke camp. It was night and the moon was in its last quarter with three stars shone around it. So the arms of Allauch have three stars, a crescent moon, and two silver wings.
Under the auspices of the canons of the Cathedral de la Major Marseille, the castle was built in the 12th century. There remains a postern, some ramparts, and Our Lady of the Castle which was built in 1148. The pride of Allauch, it is still a place of worship and pilgrimage. The canons remained the Spiritual and Temporal Lords for nearly seven centuries until the French Revolution. They attracted a new population seeking land to cultivate. Then began a period of clearing the land and covering it with vineyards, olive groves, and wheat.
On the eve of the Revolution more than three-quarters of Allauch soil belonged to the peasants who worked it, about 20% by the nobles and bourgeois, and only 3% by the clergy. Throughout the 19th century Allauch declined: Agriculture and livestock stagnated as did the production of plaster and chalk extracted using traditional methods.
In contrast to the early 19th century, during the suppression of the free port of Marseille, Allauch was the scene of contraband tobacco. Probably practiced initially by only a few it soon became generalized and became the main industry of Allauch during the century ahead of the stone quarries, the plasterworks, and the bauxite deposits.
The construction of the Canal de Marseille started a recovery: running water arrived in Allauch in 1888. Then an electric tram line connecting Marseille to Plan-de-Cuques came in 1902 followed by a connection to Bourdonnière and Allauch via Pounche in 1908: it was the end of isolation and confirmation of a new prosperity to come.
In the Decree of 25 March 1966 Allauch was classed as an urban commune and today Allauch has become increasingly a residential commune.

Heraldry

Politics and Administration

Municipal Administration

The following table shows the share of seats on the Allauch Municipal Council:
PartyPresidentNo. SeatsStatus
PSRoland Povinelli30majority
Extreme LeftGilles Viallon3opposition

List of mayors

FromToNamePartyPosition
17881788Louis Ricard
17881791Jean-Francois Dieude
17911792Honoré-Marie Tratebas
17921794Joseph Michel
17941794Jean-Baptiste Chaillon
17941794Balthazard Daignan
17971800Laurent Guichard
18001829Bernard Bernard
18291829Jean-Baptiste Geofroy
18311844Ange-Marie Cauvin
18441870Louis Blanc
18711871Jean-Baptiste Bremond
18711872François Maillet
18721874Louis Bernard
18741876François Maillet
18761876Balthazard Rouviere
18761879Joseph Camoin
18791881Adrien Lieutard
18811882Vincent Roux
18821888Louis-Marie Tratebas
18881910Joseph Chevillon
19101915Frédéric Chevillon
19151929Alphonse Honnorat
19291940Louis Brunet

;Mayors from 1940
FromToNamePartyPosition
19411941Charles Saeteli
19411944Pierre Goreaud
19441967Louis Brunet
19671971Pierre Audoubert
19711975Jacques Gaillard
19752020Rolland PovinelliPS
20202026Lionel De cala-