Étaules () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department and Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France.

Located in the heart of the Arvert peninsula and the touristic region of Royannais, in the continental fringe of the "Côte de Beauté" and near the famous oyster farming zone of Marennes-Oléron, this small town is well situated in the western suburbs of Royan. The city experience constant and sustained growth for over twenty years (its population was 1,413 in 1990 and 2,375 inhabitants in 2012). With its "sisters cities" Arvert, Chaillevette and La Tremblade, Étaules forms a small conurbation of 11,630 inhabitants, with many services and shops.

The town benefits from its proximity to the seaside resorts on the Atlantic coast (Royan, Vaux-sur-Mer, Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, La Palmyre) and the forest of la Coubre, a natural reserve of biodiversity, and has developed tourism-related activities, accommodation Cap France, a camping and several seasonal dwellings. It is also an important oyster production center, with two ports : Orivol and Les Grandes Roches. The city is strongly influences by Royan, the main economic center of the area. Modernization of roads, marked by the opening of a ring road round the downtown, also facilitates connections with La Tremblade, the tiny capital of the canton.

Étaules belongs to the agglomeration community Royan Atlantique (CARA), intercommunal structure gathering about 84,000 inhabitants.

Geography

The town of Étaules is located south-west of the department of Charente-Maritime and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in the heart of the Arvert peninsula, in the continental section of the "Côte de Beauté". The commune is in a conurbation comprising La Tremblade (the main urban centre), Arvert, and Chaillevette and could be considered part of the outlying "suburbs" of Royan which is the main urban centre and economic hub of the area. Administratively it is part of the Canton of La Tremblade and the Arrondissement of Rochefort.

The city is located 2.3 kilometers from Arvert, 3.2 kilometers from Chaillevette, 4.9 kilometers from Saint-Augustin, 5.2 kilometers from Breuillet, 5.4 kilometers from La Tremblade, 7.8 kilometers from Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan, 9.7 kilometers from Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, 9.9 kilometers from Vaux-sur-Mer, 12.9 kilometers from Royan, 15.1 kilometers from Saujon, 25.6 miles Rochefort, 35.8 kilometers from Saintes, 47.8 kilometers from La Rochelle, and 107.1 km from Bordeaux.

Etaules with the rest of the department belongs to the "Midi de la France", Southern France area - or more specifically "South Atlantic". The commune also lies within two major geographical areas: the Grand-Ouest and the Grand Sud-Ouest. Etaules has an area of 1,155 hectares consisting of a patchwork of salted marshes (the Seudre marshes) or soft marsh partially drained (the St. Augustin marshes), forests areas announcing the nearby forest of la Coubre, pastures, vineyards, agricultural "champagnes" with dominant cereal, and artificialised spaces, steadily a result of further development of the town and an urban sprawl particularly strong, especially along the road to La Tremblade-Saujon (D14), a major focus of the peninsula. This has created a continuous built over nearly seven kilometers from the exit of Chaillevette up Tremblade and Ronce-les-Bains, characterised by the construction of many housing estates and residential areas that unite the old urban cores and many hamlets previously isolated.

Oyster farms are one of the structural elements of the municipal landscape. Established along the estuary of Seudre, which here reaches an impressive width, they form a set which overlap land and water. The countryside consists of humid green meadows and extensive gray-blue mudflats (the Seudre marshes) highlighted by golden lines of reeds, hedges, and aquatic plants with, in line of sight, the Marennes steeple forming a landmark, labyrinth of water space and light, which, in lockers shimmering in the sun (the "claires"), oysters of the basin are set to refine and where they acquire their flavor and special color under the action of a pigment (marennine) produced by a microscopic algae called "navicule bleue".

Two small oyster ports, sometimes brightly painted huts, characteristics of Marennes-Oléron, punctuate this part of the town: Orivol, northwest, on the banks of the channel of the same name, lies at the junction catches of the "prise" of Malletatier and La Sause; Les Grandes Roches, a little above, is between the channels of Les Grandes Roches and Brégauds (the latter forming the administrative boundary with the municipality of Chaillevette when the channel of Orivol serves as a natural border with the town of Arvert). Natural area of rich flora and fauna, the marshes of the Seudre is a repository of rare plants and a bird sanctuary in the foreground.

Descending to the south, on the margins of the estuary of the Seudre, a little accentuated tray serves buttress these wetland areas. Gradually, as it rises towards the Groies and Beauregard, he wears the vineyards for the manufacture of brandies known in the area, cognac and Pineau des Charentes, as well as local wines. Further south lie some soft hills that form somehow the backbone of the peninsula of Arvert. Formed in Cretaceous limestones heights are in places covered with superficial formations (silt, clay) where some forests flourish. The latter, which cover no less than 150 hectares, form a dense canopy where mingle hardwood (oak, holm oaks or "yeuses" in saintongeais dialect, etc.) and softwood (mainly pine trees), the first fruits of the vast pine forest of Coubre remote barely a few kilometers, and whose balsamic scent is noticeable when the summer breezes blow. The main wood of the town are the Bois de Chassagne, the Bois des Clones, the bois des Pérets or the bois des Fougerons.

Further south (beyond a few materialized line or less by the main road), new marshes abut against the tray. The marshes of Saint-Augustin, soft to the contrary the marshes of the Seudre, cover 1586 hectares including 850 only on the comune of Étaules. Forming a transition zone between the coast and dune formations (Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, La Palmyre), they are a relic of the former Gulf of Arvert which became the Barbareu Pond in the Middle Ages, which initially connected to the sea by a small outlet (cove Brajado, now Bréjat) has gradually filled over the centuries, under the action of masses of dune sands which have cut off all communication with the estuary of the Gironde. Small islands emerged from these vast expanses Water: île de Paradis, île de Brèze, île de la Lourde... L'île/Isle d'Étaules - actually a peninsula - has long been the main population center of the parish before it is transferred to its current location. It does not exceed a height of 21 meters and retains many vines that bloom in these limestones and well exposed terrain.

With the closure of the outlet of Bréjat, canals were dug to prevent water stagnation, long disease vectors. The Grand Ecours, which forms the administrative boundary with Saint-Augustin and Les Mathes, is one of the most important. Vast green spaces consist of wet meadows crisscrossed with ditches and punctuated by groves, Saint-Augustin marshes are home to a rich and varied flora, which rushes mingle, pulicaires, water plantain or irises. Near the Fief de Bel-Air (rue du Haut-des-Bois) or L'île d'Etaules (rue du Maine-Videau), panoramic views help to understand the reality of this conservation area.

Transport

Bicycle paths The commune has a network of bicycle paths as part of the "Pathways of Seudre" - a collaboration between the Department Council, the Agglomeration Community Royan Atlantique, and the Community of communes of the Marennes basin. The network has been operated since 2007 and allows the exploration of oyster farms and the Seudre Marsh landscape.

Public transport The town is served by the Cara'Bus public transport network which connects to other communes in the Royannaise agglomeration. It was inaugurated on 2 January 2006 under the name " Très Royannais" and was originally composed of hybrid minibuses (electric and diesel). It has been operated since September 2008 by the Veolia Transport company and was renamed "Cara'Bus" since then.Changes in Royan, September 2008, Transbus website, consulted on 1 July 2009

A modernization of the urban transport network in the agglomeration on 5 January 2009 led to the purchase of Heuliez shuttle buses as well as increasing the number of regular routes from three to ten with three additional routes in summer.Cara'bus Network Map, Carabus transport website, consulted on 3 May 2014

Three Cara'Bus stops are located in the commune: Étaules-Syndicat d'initiative, Étaules-Église et Étaules-Cimetière, and a fourth in the entrance of the city, but in the commune of Chaillevette : Chaillevette-Rond-Point. Three bus routes serve the commune: Route 42 starts at Étaules passing all the stops in the commune and going to La Tremblade, Ronce-les-Bains, and Marennes; Route 41 starts from Ronce-les-Bains and goes to Cozes via La Tremblade, Arvert, Étaules, Chaillevette, Breuillet (Le Magarin stop), Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan (Fontbedeau stop), Saujon, Le Chay, and Grézac; Route 22 connects Bramble-les-Bains to the Royan multimodal railway station via La Tremblade, Arvert, Étaules, Chaillevette, Breuillet (Centre-Ville), Vaux-sur-Mer (Val Lumière shopping centre), and Royan.

The commune is also served by the Les Mouettes departmental transport company, more specifically by the routes 409, 410, and 411 which connect Breuillet to Bourcefranc-le-Chapus via Arvert, La Tremblade, and Marennes. This service links to the main cities of the department.

Air transport The nearest airport is that of Rochefort Saint-Agnant, about 25 kilometres north. The La Rochelle – Île de Ré Airport, 50 kilometres north, has services to some major French cities such as Paris and Lyon as well as the British Isles and Northern Europe. About 100 kilometres south-east of the commune, Bordeaux - Merignac Airport is an international airport with connections to many countries.

Policy and administration

Municipal administration From 1789 to 1799, under the Act of 14 December 1789, the municipal agents (equivalent to mayors) were directly elected for 2 years and re-elected by the working citizens of the town aged 25 years or more who paid a tax of at least 3 days of work in the commune. Those who were eligible paid a tax equivalent to at least ten working days.

From 1799 to 1848, under the constitution of 22 Frimaire Year VIII (13 December 1799), mayors were appointed by the prefect for communes with less than 5,000 inhabitants. The Restoration established the appointment of mayors and councillors. After the 1831 organic law mayors were appointed (by the king for communes with more than 3,000 inhabitants, by the prefect for smaller) but councillors were elected by censal suffrage for six years.

From 3 July 1848 to 1851 mayors were elected by the municipal council for communes with fewer than 6,000 inhabitants.

From 1851 to 1871 mayors were appointed by the prefect for communes with less than 3,000 inhabitants and for 5 years from 1855. After 1871 mayors were elected again except in the capital towns (of departments, arrondissements, or cantons).

It was on 28 March 1882 that the current law on municipal organization was passed which governed the principle of election of the mayor and the deputy by the council whatever the size of the commune (except for Paris). The law of 5 April 1884 fixed the term to four years, a duration increased to six years on 10 April 1929.Decentralisation, Assemblée nationale website

According to its size, the commune has a council of 19 members (Article L2121-2 of the General Code of local authorities).Number of members of communal municipal councils, Legifrance

Canton