Lille Métropole Communauté urbaine
Geography
Administration
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas de Calais
Department	Nord
No. of communes	85
Chief-town	Lille
President	Martine Aubry (PS) (2008-present)
Founded	December 22, 1967
Budget	1,441 Millions € (2006)¹
Statistics
Population
- 1999	1,091,438 (19.5% in the city of Lille)
- Density	1,785/km²
Land area	611.45km²
Web site
Lille Métropole Communautés Urbaines
¹ Source for the budget

The Urban Community of Lille Métropole (French: Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine) is the intercommunal structure gathering the commune of Lille and that part of the Lille metropolitan area that lies in France.

The goal of the Urban Community is to build a better metropolitan area by synchronizing the transport system, environmental actions, etc.

Contents 1 History 2 Responsibilities 2.1 Local public transport 3 Cross-border issues 4 Communes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

The Urban Community was founded in 1967, its first president was Augustin Laurent. Then, in 1971, Arthur Notebart, Deputy Mayor of Lomme succeeded him until the election of Pierre Mauroy in 1989. After the March 2008 municipal elections, each city council will send delegates to the urban community, a total of 170 voting members. In April 2008, the new president will be elected on a majority vote defined at 816 votes. It will be a cause for intense lobbying throughout the 85 cities and villages. One key issue will be on the investment priorities for the 2008/2014 period, namely Transport, Housing and the Environnement. Newly re-elected mayor of Lille, socialist Martine Aubry, will try to impose a new 800m euro stadium in the eastern part of the community, which is opposed by three major mayors of her own party, who consider the project as misplaced and too expensive.

[edit] Responsibilities

[edit] Local public transport

The urban community is responsible for the co-ordination of Transpole, the private sector company that operates a public transport network throughout the Métropole. The network comprises buses, trams and a driverless metro system, all of which are operated under the Transpole name. The Lille Metro is a VAL system (véhicule automatique léger = light automated vehicle) that opened on May 16, 1983, becoming the first automatic metro line in the world. The metro system has two lines, with a total length of 45km and 60 stations. The tram system consists of two interurban tram lines, connecting central Lille to the nearby communities of Roubaix and Tourcoing, and has 45 stops. 68 urban bus routes cover the metropolis, 8 of which reach into Belgium.^[1]

[edit] Cross-border issues

The Urban Community of Lille Métropole encompasses only the French part of the metropolitan area of Lille. The other part of the metropolitan area is on Belgian territory (Mouscron, Kortrijk,Ypres, Roeselare, etc.) and outside of the scope of the Urban Community. There are currently some projects to establish an Urban Community for the whole metropolitan area, crossing borders, but this transnational structure has not been created yet.

[edit] Communes

The 85 communes of the Urban Community are:

Anstaing Armentières Baisieux La Bassée Beaucamps-Ligny Bondues Bousbecque Bouvines Capinghem La Chapelle-d'Armentières Chéreng Comines Croix Deûlémont Don Emmerin Englos Ennetières-en-Weppes Erquinghem-le-Sec Erquinghem-Lys Escobecques Fâches-Thumesnil Forest-sur-Marque Fournes-en-Weppes Frelinghien Fretin Gruson Hallennes-lez-Haubourdin Halluin	Hantay Haubourdin Hem Herlies Houplin-Ancoisne Houplines Illies Lambersart Lannoy Leers Lesquin Lezennes Lille (includes the associate-communes of Hellemmes and Lomme) Linselles Lompret Loos Lys-lez-Lannoy La Madeleine Marcq-en-Barœul Marquette-lez-Lille Marquillies Mons-en-Barœul Mouvaux Neuville-en-Ferrain Noyelles-lès-Seclin Pérenchies Péronne-en-Mélantois Prémesques	Quesnoy-sur-Deûle Ronchin Roncq Roubaix Sailly-lez-Lannoy Sainghin-en-Mélantois Sainghin-en-Weppes Saint-André-lez-Lille Salomé Santes Seclin Sequedin Templemars Toufflers Tourcoing Tressin Vendeville Verlinghem Villeneuve d'Ascq Wambrechies Warneton Wasquehal Wattignies Wattrelos Wavrin Wervicq-Sud Wicres Willems

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine website