Autodrome de Laon-Couvron (modified project)

Autodrome de Laon-Couvron (modified project).

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

The modified scheme is described as covering 363 ha, down from the initial 509 ha project. It includes a 3.7 km motor circuit; a 1,199 m by 23 m airstrip using existing taxiway 2 (about 2.8 ha including clearances); an activity area with about 4,700 m² of existing buildings to be reconfigured for vehicle maintenance and other businesses; four underground fuel tanks with 230 m³ total capacity; three car parks of 990 m², 14,890 m² and 15,625 m²; and a heliport. Other planned facilities include a 31 m² entrance lodge, an 800 m² reception and exhibition space, a 1,500 m² paddock, and 550 m² for offices, race control and medical facilities. Fourteen buildings are to be demolished and another partly demolished, retaining an electrical transformer post. The revised drainage plan reduces seven infiltration basins to five and increases their stated useful volume from 13,781 m³ to 16,853 m³. The opinion reports 67 ha for the autodrome and associated buildings and 194 ha allocated to the separate Neoen project, but says the use of the former base’s remaining land needs clarification; the complete site boundary and land-use split are therefore not reconciled.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

France.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

The authority identifies protected species and habitats, biodiversity and ecological continuity, groundwater, contaminated soils and pyrotechnic risks, air quality, noise, traffic and greenhouse-gas emissions as material issues. The 2018 nature-protection opinion was unfavorable. Ecological compensation required under the 2019 authorization covered 242 ha, was only partly implemented, and was interrupted in 2020; at Sissonne, 67 of 132 planned hectares had been completed. The revised assessment estimates 26.68 ha of habitat loss for the Eurasian stone-curlew and 53.36 ha of compensation, but the authority says the overall compensation assessment remains incomplete and does not demonstrate no net biodiversity loss, including cumulatively with the solar project. MSV is reported as proposing no additional compensation. The authority also reports that 2025 analyses found water from the site’s F2 borehole had parameters non-compliant with potable use, and asks for the abstraction level and measures to ensure potable-water compliance to be addressed. Soil contamination and earthworks information remain incomplete. Operating emissions are estimated at about 3,150 tCO2e per year; construction emissions were not estimated, and the claimed carbon compensation is not substantiated. Traffic effects outside the site also remain insufficiently clarified.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

Planned uses include sports-car and motorcycle owner driving days, manufacturer events and tests, driving courses, up to six car or motorcycle race weekends per year, driver and road-safety training, and training for emergency services. Leisure and sports operation is planned for daytime hours, with specified weekday and weekend limits; industrial testing is envisaged around the clock. Airfield use is limited to daylight and specified operating hours, with the dossier estimating up to 10 aircraft movements per day.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

The 2018 version was not carried out and its development permits expired. MSV subsequently modified the project and is seeking a new development permit. The reviewed pages do not establish that construction has begun or provide an implementation schedule; the authority asks for the works and timetable to be described.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

On the former NATO military air base near Laon, across Chéry-lès-Pouilly, Couvron-et-Aumencourt, Vivaise and Crépy, in the Aisne department (02). The former base is described as 509 ha, with existing buildings, roads and a 94 ha airfield; it has not been used since 2012.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05

The new development-permit dossier is under examination in the reviewed account. Its decision and any subsequent construction milestone are not reported; a works schedule remains to be clarified.

Attributed to IGEDD / Autorité environnementale.

Source: IGEDD environmental authority native opinion text · publication date not recorded · observed 2026-10-05