Porte de Chatellerault

Richelieu Ensemble - an election candidate appears

Philippe Naudeau

Mayoral candidate - March 2020

M Naudeau est le premier à déclarer sa candidature. Mardi après-midi, Philippe Naudeau a dévoilé ses intentions, lors d’un point presse, à la Cité Richelieu, son espace de coworking. Âgé de 67 ans, il est chef d’entreprise et réside à Richelieu. Sa liste s’intitulera « Richelieu ensemble ». Elle est constituée de dix femmes et de neuf hommes, représentatifs des différentes composantes de la population de la ville et de ses différents quartiers. Cette liste, dont plusieurs membres ont une expérience d’élu local, sera présentée dans quelques jours. « J’ai voulu une équipe, qui soit présente au quotidien et à l’écoute des habitants. La ville a besoin d’une gestion au plus près », explique le futur candidat. Le programme de « Richelieu ensemble » sera, lui aussi, détaillé dans quelque temps. Parmi les priorités citées par sa tête de liste, figurent le renforcement de l’action sociale, la re-dynamisation de l’économie richelaise, afin d’enrayer la baisse de la population, la maîtrise des finances locales, le développement d’initiatives tendant à rendre Richelieu plus attractive, dans des domaines comme l’artisanat, le commerce, le tourisme, la culture, le patrimoine ou l’embellissement de la ville. Philippe Naudeau souhaite également s’inscrire dans le programme de transition énergétique, en préservant l’environnement et la qualité de vie des Richelais.

M. Naudeau is the first to declare his candidacy for Mayor of Richelieu in the March 2020 elections. Philippe Naudeau revealed his intentions during a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon at Cité Richelieu, his own co-working space. Now aged 67, he is a business owner and himself lives in Richelieu. His electoral list will be titled 

'Richelieu Ensemble'.

The team is made up of ten women and nine men, each a representative of the different components of the city's population and its different neighbourhoods. This team list, of which several members already have experience as local elected representatives, will be presented in a few days time. 

'I wanted a team that was present on a daily basis and who could listen to the inhabitants. The Cité needs management as closely as possible' said the future candidate.

The program of "Richelieu Ensemble" will also be detailed shortly. Among the priorities cited by its heads of terms

• strengthening social action,
• re-vitalizing the Richelais economy in order to halt the current decline in population
• mastering local municipal finances
• developing initiatives aimed at make Richelieu more attractive in areas such as crafts, commerce, tourism, culture, heritage or the beautification of the Cité.

Philippe Naudeau also wishes to join the Energy Transition Program, while preserving the environment and the quality of life of the citizens of Richelieu.

richelieuensemble@gmail.com

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Thanks to Nouvelle Republique

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Mayor Hervé Novelli stands down in preparation for the March 2020 Mayoral Elections.

Hervé Novelli

Mayor of Richelieu

The former Minister and current Mayor of Richelieu is bringing an end to his local political career. A long chapter of thirty years of his life, which closes not without emotion.

Last Saturday the speech of the ceremony 'Wishes of the Mayor' ended with a long ovation from the room standing in front of Mayor Hervé Novelli, who at that point could no longer hide his tears. Many friends of the former Minister took out the handkerchiefs too, sharing this momentary highlight: the end of a chapter of more than thirty years.

Memories evidently jostled in the mind of one who had arrived in Richelieu at the end of 1982, following the sudden death of his father, to take over the small family business of manufacturing artificial limbs, which he then came to manage and develop for a quarter of century.

Even if he simultaneously managed to lead a Departmental, then National political career, including three and a half years in Government, the creator of the 'Statute of the Individual Entrepreneur' always kept in his heart his adopted Commune of Richelieu, there for four terms; as an Advisor, then an Assistant, then finally as Mayor for eleven years from 2008.

The unfinished dream of the famous eponymous cardinal, Richelieu is a city on a Human Scale which seduces with its 'magic side', but nonetheless requires a lot of energy to sustain its charm and its tourist appeal. And, at the time of the evaluation of his achievements, Hervé Novelli now has many happy memories. He had waited for the completion of the renovation of the Village Hall to organise his 'Wishes of the Mayor' ceremony, on the day after the construction site completed, as if to tick one more box in the list of his team's achievements.

Even at a time when the countryside is de-populating, it is not easy to act in a Municipality of only 1800 inhabitants; one with 118 registered or classified monuments, so the balance sheet of achievements turns out to be positive, the more so without any increase in taxation. Richelieu, which had already succeeded in creating an innovative multi-disciplinary Health Centre, has now just recently seen its half-completed by-pass finally completed, itself the climax of a battle that lasted almost fifteen years.

The Voie Verte, or Green Way, connecting Richelieu to Chinon will also remain an important achievement, such as the construction of the new EHPAD (Etablissement d'Hébergement Pour Personnes Agées Dépendantes), to cite only a few significant files of this mayoral mandate.

On the strength of this assessment, Hervé Novelli therefore decided to bow out in 2020. He still has some other responsibilities, in particular for the development of local wine tourism. But, having passed the milestone of the 'three score years and ten', he feels the time has come to pass the Torch, well aware that there is still much to do for his town.

It is certainly not a farewell. "I will always be ready and available to serve Richelieu,"

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thanks to Nouvelle Republique
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