Nantes Métropole reopens the Islettes stream at…

Nantes Métropole reopens the Islettes stream at Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire and builds a new path

Nantes Métropole and its partners have reopened the Islettes stream at Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire over about thirty metres and replaced a temporary link with a permanent path for pedestrians, people with reduced mobility and cyclists, with a €42,276 Fonds vert grant.

6 November 2026 by Robert Eduard Antal, facts checked automatically against the source · updated 9 November 2026

Key facts

The collapsed culvert was removed in September to bring the stream back into the open over roughly thirty metres.

The temporary link was replaced by a permanent path on the site of the demolished house, open to pedestrians, people with reduced mobility and cyclists.

The project received a grant of 42,276 euros from the national Fonds vert.

Nantes Métropole and its partners have brought the Islettes stream at Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire back into the open over about thirty metres and opened a permanent path where a house once stood. The site, the coulée des Islettes, links the northern part of the ZAC de la Minais to the route de Thouaré and has been under development and renaturation works since the start of 2026. The project chose to restore a watercourse rather than rebuild a buried pipe.

Why the stream was reopened

In 2023 the site was closed after the culvert around the stream collapsed in the garden of the neighbouring owner. Rebuilding an identical culvert was not considered satisfactory, according to Julien Bourdeau, urban project developer at the Direction Aménagement Urbanisme Agglomération of Nantes Métropole. In his words, the best solution was to renaturalise the watercourse, which meant buying the neighbouring house and demolishing it.

Two phases of works

In 2025, in agreement with the City of Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire and Nantes Métropole, Loire-Atlantique développement, the developer of the ZAC de la Minais, bought the house at 93 route de Thouaré. From January to March 2026, the first phase demolished the building, and a temporary pedestrian path was created. A second phase began after the summer break and runs until December.

In September the collapsed culvert was removed to bring the stream back into the open over about thirty metres, said Chloé Denise, project manager at Loire-Atlantique développement. The stream was also re-meandered, an ecological restoration technique that restores the natural winding course of a watercourse, in order to limit water runoff.

The new path, funding and next steps

The temporary link has been closed and replaced by the permanent path, built on the site of the demolished house. It is open to pedestrians, people with reduced mobility and cyclists.

Remaining and completed elements:

Stream reopened and re-meandered: done in September
Permanent path: open
Planting and the last public lighting mast: December

The project received a grant of €42,276 from the Fund for accelerating the ecological transition in the territories, known as the Fonds vert.

Drafted with AI assistance from the cited source. Every fact was matched automatically against the source text; it was published without an editor reading it. Tell us about any mistake and we correct it on the page.