Lac de Soues develops the sports area and creates an educational pathway

Lake Soues, a natural space and a place for picnics, relaxation, sports and leisure activities, will welcome new equipment and projects. The Steering Committee responsible for the development of the Lac de Soues site, composed of a municipal team of 6 members including the Mayor, Roger Lescott and Daniel Coronado, Assistant Schools and Communications, and coordinator of said committee, involves the youth district in the design of its projects. “The process of involving young people in the village is a voluntary and civic-minded process. It was chosen and implemented by the municipality. It allows elected officials to keep in touch with young people, educated in college or high school, to get to know them, to work together,” confirms Danielle Coronado. It is clear that young people fit more easily into the spaces in which they have participated in development.
On the part of the municipality, care is being taken to publish the achievements over time, from 2022 to 2024 and to multiply the partnerships in order to obtain the subsidies necessary to complete the projects. “With regard to the developments for this year 2023, the envelope is about 160 thousand euros, 70% financed by the region, the administration, the Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees agglomeration and the state,” explains Daniel Coronado. “The rest is financed with our own money, and we do not resort to borrowing, and this without creating an imbalance in the budget,” specifies Roger Lescott.

Remember that in 2022, the city stadium was built, covered with a net, so that no footballs, handballs or basketballs land on the road. Refurbishment of the old picross track and grill track at the edge of the bowls grounds has also been carried out via a recent construction site. Thus the grill walls were painted with the support of Enzo, a professional graffiti artist. The drawings represent the main sports that can be played on the site: football, pétanque, mountain biking and fishing. Two self-flushing toilets have been installed, one at the lake site and one near the BMX track.
The development of the small lake also started in 2022. It provides an educational path that enhances the biodiversity of this natural space. With the help of a technician from the Permanent Center for Environmental Initiatives (CPIE), eight young people between the ages of 11 and 17, from the Youth District, conducted a census of the species living in the lake and learned how biodiversity works.

Creating a Smart Floor

They have created ‘smart’flore’, a phone app that allows plant detection, listening to birdsong, etc. The teens put a learning raft on the little lake allowing birds to nest at the top and fish to spawn at the bottom. Adriana Vocational High School built a small lake observation station and carried out several tree plantings. Currently, young people are writing information boards that will soon be installed around the small lake. The more they know their environment, says Danielle Coronado, the more they understand it and the more they protect it.

In 2023, the children’s playground is renovated and new sports equipment is installed nearby. More picnic tables will be installed soon.

The Athletics Club will take advantage of the new hammer and discus throw area to allow boys and girls in the federation to continue training in complete safety. The site is under construction and will enable the land to be reclaimed for future developments, possibly in 2024. The old area will be dismantled.
Also in 2023, the old tennis courts – which date back to 1981 – will be replaced by a tennis court and two rowing courts. In partnership with the Syndicate Department of Energy (SDE), these new structures will be covered in photovoltaic panels. *