Uplace loss of building permit won’t affect timing, says developer

The planned shopping, business and leisure complex Uplace in Machelen, just outside of Brussels, will not suffer any delays despite the cancellation of the project’s building permit, the company has announced. The start of construction due to take place around the end of this year will go ahead as planned, it said.

Flanders’ Council for Permit Disputes rescinded the development’s permit earlier this week, based on a complaint filed by a number of parties opposed to the complex, including the City of Vilvoorde. It’s the latest in a long line of obstacles to the progress of the shopping centre, which will be located in Flemish Brabant. “We have every confidence that an application for a new permit on the basis of a new approved zoning plan will be dealt with in a positive manner,” a spokesperson for Uplace said.

Uplace was granted a permit by the previous Flemish government in 2011. Opponents to the project – concerned about the traffic situation on Brussels ring road and on the effect on shops in nearby town centres – immediately filed a complaint.

In the interim, another case against the project filed with the Council of State partly cancelled the regional planning programme (Grup) for the zone where Uplace is located. The Council for Permit Disputes has now ruled that the Uplace permit has no legal basis since the Grup is partly cancelled.

“The complaint is already four years old, and based on old arguments,” a Uplace spokesperson said. The government of Flanders approved a new Grup in January this year, which puts right the faults found by the Council of State, but the latest judgement takes no account of that.

Uplace can simply apply for a new permit on the basis of the new Grup. “We have every confidence that it can be delivered within an acceptable timeframe,” Uplace said.

Uplace plans to begin construction at the end of this year, a decade after the plans were first announced, and the complex will take about two years to complete.

“Uplace will go forward with the project,” said Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois, speaking in the Concertation Committee, which brings together representatives of all three regions. “If they apply for a new permit, that will be dealt with in a properly objective manner by the minister in charge, Joke Schauvliege,” he said.

He also called on opposition parties in Flanders – Groen and SP.A – to “stop with the hypocrisy” that leads to objections to Uplace while supporting similar projects Docks and Neo in the Brussels Capital-Region, where SP.A is part of the governing coalition.

Photo courtesy Uplace