Clash of intercommunal titans. That’s one way to describe the story of the Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne. We stand here at a place that was once the heart of cooperation. It existed as a French intercommunal structure. It was in the department of Essonne and the Île-de-France region.
Let’s dive into the history of the Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne. It wasn’t always called that. It began as a community of communes. This was Corbeil-Essonnes and du Coudray-Montceaux. It was created in 1996. The Communauté de Communes Seine-Essonne was created by a prefectural decree.
The Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne officially came into being. This happened with a start date in December 2002. It adopted the status of a Communauté d’agglomération.
But this is not the end of the story. The Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne merged. It joined the Communauté d’agglomération of Évry Centre Essonne. Also joining were Sénart and Sénart en Essonne. The commune of Grigny also joined. They all combined to form the Communauté d’agglomération Grand Paris Sud Seine Essonne Sénart.
Let’s talk geography. The Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne was in eastern Essonne. Its altitude ranged from thirty-two meters. This was in Soisy-sur-Seine. It went up to one hundred meters in Le Coudray-Montceaux.
In 2015, the Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne included five communes. These were Corbeil-Essonnes and Étiolles. Le Coudray-Montceaux also belonged to it. Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil and Soisy-sur-Seine were also part of it.
The seat of the Communauté d’agglomération was in Coudray-Montceaux. It was at Rond-point de la Demi-Lune.
Following territorial reforms, community councillors were elected. They were chosen by direct universal suffrage. This happened at the same time as municipal councillors. The council had forty-five community councillors. This was from March 2014. The number of councillors depended on the population size of each commune. Corbeil-Essonnes had twenty-one councillors. Le Coudray-Montceaux had six. Saint-Germain-Lès-Corbeil had seven. Soisy-sur-Seine had six and Etiolles five councillors.
The Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne had several areas of expertise. These were transferred by the member municipalities. These included economic development and regional planning. They also covered social housing and urban policy. Sports and cultural facilities were managed. Road management was another area of responsibility. Collection and sorting of household waste were included. Public transport management and tourism promotion were also key.
The Communauté d’agglomération was a public body. It had its own taxation system. It received the single business tax. This ensured resource equalization between residential and business areas.
In 2008, the Communauté d’agglomération had a budget. It was 28,309,567 euros. The single business tax rate was set at 15.80%.
The Communauté d’agglomération Seine-Essonne adopted a territorial project. This was in July 2005. It included fifty actions. These actions aimed to develop the area harmoniously. It sought harmony with its cultural, natural, economic and commercial heritage. It was a large employment and housing area. It was crossed by the Seine and Essonne rivers.