Departmental Council of Nord

The Departmental Council of Nord (French: Conseil départemental du Nord, Picard: Consièl départémintal dech Nord) is the deliberative assembly of the French department of the Nord, the most populous French department. The headquarters of this decentralized local authority are in Lille.

Departmental Council of Nord

Conseil départemental du Nord
Established4 March 1791
Leadership
Christian Poiret, DVD
since 1 July 2021
Meeting place
51 Rue Gustave Delory, 59047 Lille
Website
lenord.fr

History

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Pursuant to a decree of the Constituent Assembly of December 22, 1790, the province of Flanders officially became the Department of Nord on March 4, 1791, with Douai as its capital.[1]

The first president of the general council was Louis Joseph de Warenghien de Flory, magistrate and politician in Douai.[2] When it was created, the Nord had 8 arrondissements:[3] Avesnes (now part of Avesnes-sur-Helpe), Bergues (now part of Dunkirk), Cambrai, Douai, Hazebrouck (now part of Dunkirk), Lille, Le Quesnoy (now part of Avesnes-sur-Helpe) and Valenciennes.[4]

In 1803, the prefect, who then presided over the general council, changed the seat of the council to Lille, the former capital of the province of Flanders, in Hôtel de Roquefeuille, rue Française (now rue Négrier, in Old Lille). However, the premises turned out to be unsuitable and the prefecture was established in 1826 in a large building on rue Royale (today the Bishop's Palace).[5]

From 1860, with the development of the administrative powers and competences of the prefects, the Hôtel de la rue Royale became 'too cramped'.[6] In 1862, the Lille municipality offered a large piece of land, outside the old ramparts, on the still free plots which separated Lille from the municipality of Wazemmes.

On August 15, 1865, Prefect Henri-Alexandre Wallon laid the first stone of the new building on Place Napoléon III, now Place de la République, on the occasion of the Emperor's Day. A lead box enclosed in this stone contains the minutes of the operation and coins of the time bearing the effigy of the Emperor.[7]

 
Hôtel de la Préfecture du Nord, built in 1872

Throughout the work, many changes were made to the project. Construction took place over several years and it was in 1872 that the Hôtel de la Préfecture was completed and the General Council sat there for the first time.[8]

In 1920, due to the growing development of the departmental administration, the problem of the small size of the premises arose again. In 1932, part of the services of the General Council was annexed to the corner of Boulevard de la Liberté and Rue Baptiste-Monnoyer.[7]

 
The Forum being demolished

In the early 1970s, a new building, the Forum, was built at the corner of Charles Saint-Venant and Gustave Delory streets.[9] Until 2019, it housed part of the department's central services. Dilapidated, it was demolished in 2021. A reconstruction project is underway on the site.[10]

The latter was raised on rue Gustave-Delory in 1982,[11] in the wake of' the first decentralization laws which entrusted the administration of the general council to an elected president.

In 2015, the cantons went from 8 to 6 today: Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Cambrai, Douai, Dunkirque, Lille and Valenciennes.

The building on the Place de la République, which still belongs to the Nord department today, houses the residence of the prefect of the Nord as well as his services. It still hosts meetings of the departmental council in its former hemicycle.

Composition

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The President

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The departmental council of Nord has been chaired since July 1, 2021 by Christian Poiret (DVD), who succeeds Jean-René Lecerf (DVD), following the departmental elections of 2021.[12]

Vice-Presidents

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The executive of the Departmental Council of Nord is made up of 15 vice-presidents and 4 delegated councilors.

List of vice-presidents
Order Name Delegation(s)[13]
1st Doriane Becue Employment and integration
2nd Max-André Pick Finance and General Affairs
3rd Jean-Luc Detavernier Human resources
4th Patrick Valois Rurality and environment
5th Nicolas Siegler Regional planning and Seine-Nord Europe Canal
6th Marie Tonnerre Childhood, family and youth
7th Sylvie Clerc Disability
8th Frédérique Seels Autonomy of the elderly
9th Valentin Belleval Roads and infrastructure
10th Jean-Noel Verfaillie Housing, urban renewal and city policy
11th Martine Alrabosse Culture and institutional communication
12th Marie Cieters Colleges and education
13th Barbara Coëvoët Health and prevention
14th Mickaël Hiraux Renewal of territories
15th Loïc Cathelain Tourism and mobility

Political composition

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Since 2015, the departmental council has 82 departmental councillors, elected in joint pairs from each of the 41 cantons of Nord.[14]

Composition (by party)[15][16]
Party Acronym Seats
 
Majority (50 seats)
Union of the Right UD 30
Miscellaneous right DVD 10
Union of the Centre and the Right UCD 8
Miscellaneous centre DVC 2
Opposition (32 seats)
Union of the Left UG 18
French Communist Party PCF 4
Miscellaneous left DVG 4
Union of the Left and Ecologists UGE 4
Europe Ecology – The Greens EELV 2

References

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  1. ^ "4 mars 1790, le Nord est né !". info.lenord.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  2. ^ Fontaine, Jean-Paul (2019-07-02). "Histoire de la Bibliophilie: Louis-Philippe-François de Warenghien (1771-1854), expert en bibliographie et en législation militaire". Histoire de la Bibliophilie. Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  3. ^ Guislin, Jean-Marc (2000). "La dynamique d'une géographie administrative : sous-préfectures et cantons, XIXe-XXe siècles". Revue du Nord. 82 (335): 435–471. doi:10.3406/rnord.2000.3013.
  4. ^ Schultz, Patrick (1982). La Décentralisation administrative dans le Nord de la France 1790-1793 (in French). Presses Univ. Septentrion. p. 143. ISBN 978-2-85939-203-1.
  5. ^ "L'Hôtel de la préfecture du Nord / Histoire de la préfecture / Préfecture et sous-préfectures / Services de l'État / Accueil - Les services de l'État dans le Nord". www.nord.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  6. ^ "Visite de la Préfecture – Site Giélée + Hôtel du Conseil Général". Zoom Sur Lille (in French). 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  7. ^ a b "Un peu d'histoire". lenord.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  8. ^ "Conseil départemental du Nord - Hémicycle". Le Parisien Etudiant (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  9. ^ "Lille : le Forum, l'immeuble du Département, bientôt détruit". actu.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  10. ^ "Le "Forum" du conseil départemental du Nord promis à la destruction". www.20minutes.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  11. ^ "Société DEPARTEMENT DU NORD à LILLE (Chiffre d'affaires, bilans, résultat) avec Verif.com - Siren 225900018". www.verif.com. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  12. ^ "Christian Poiret est le nouveau président du conseil départemental du Nord". actu.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  13. ^ "Département du Nord : Le Douaisien Christian Poiret élu président". L'Observateur (in French). 2021-07-01. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  14. ^ "Departement du Nord: le prefet presente aux conseillers generaux le projet de decret portant sur la recomposition cantonale" (PDF). www.nord.gouv.fr (in French). 2013-12-19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  15. ^ "Départementales 2021 dans le Nord : découvrez les résultats définitifs du second tour". France 3 Hauts-de-France (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  16. ^ "Christian Poiret, élu président du conseil départemental du Nord". France Bleu (in French). 2021-07-01. Retrieved 2022-01-13.