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Pedestrian zone: Brussels pulls urban planning permit
The Brussels-Capital Region has withdrawn the urban planning permits for the redesign of the pedestrian zone in Brussels, minister-president Rudi Vervoort announced yesterday. The decision was made after the region received negative advice from the auditor of the Council of State in a case brought by two retailer associations.
The auditor said there had not been sufficient discussion with local businesses before the Brussels-City council went ahead with the creation of the zone, shutting down traffic on the main arteries through the city centre and diverting it via a wide loop through narrow sidestreets.
The auditor said the breach of procedure was enough to suspend the plans. The advice is not binding on the Council of State, a decision from which is still awaited. The auditor’s advice, however, is followed more often than not.
Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur and the councillor in charge of mobility have said that any negative advice would not prevent the works from going ahead. But Vervoort has decided to pull the region’s permits from the city. Brussels now has to go through the permit application procedure again.
Vervoort claims the decision will not cause serious delays: new permits could be ready by the end of the year. Mayeur disagrees. “Thanks to all the damages claims and requests, the works on the pedestrian zone will suffer delays in one way or another,” he said. “At the moment we’re looking with our lawyers into which works we can start, pending a new urban planning permit.”
Comments
Good news. Closing down the main thoroughfare is stupid. A pedestrian zone around the Grand Place is great but not making the other areas a no - go zone because inhabitants and visitors cannot find their way around even on a good day. Pedestrian zones are lovely when there are shops and the walking areas are narrow. There is NOTHING to look at if you are wandering down the center of a 6 lane road with bicycles weaving in and out and ridiculous looking picnic tables parked. They should have started with a small pedestrianized zone near the Grand Place and seen how that worked before they made it any bigger. AND WHY ARE THERE CARS RIGHT NEXT TO THE MANNEKIN PIS????
This is infuriating beyond belief. How can a few discontent retailers put the whole city development on hold, a development that is favoured heavily by the residents in the zone, and by 70% of Brussels' inhabitants. Savvy businesses will move with time instead of digging in their heels in.
The real scandal is that the works did not start the moment the zone was created, and to put the development on hold for even longer is outrageous, and it seriously makes me doubt my future in Brussels.
The residents living in the zone may like it, but 70% of Brussels' inhabitants? Where does that figure come from? Mayeur's press office? The pedestrian zone is being cited as one of the reasons for the poor start to the summer sales.
The real scandal is that so much money was spent/wasted on a personal pet project ordered by a mayor who wasn't even elected to office.