Relaxed rules on cafe terraces from pandemic are phased out

Cafes and restaurants in Brussels are racing against time to obtain clarity on the rules for occupying pavement space with terraces as the outdoor season approaches.

The pandemic regulation that allowed the Brussels catering industry to erect terrace structures on pavements and parking spaces without planning permission expired in September.

Unless the scheme is extended in perpetuity, Bruzz reports, planning permission will be required next terrace season, which the sector has called "absurd".

“An extension [of the regulation] is absolutely necessary,” said Matthieu Léonard, president of the Brussels Catering Federation.

“For hospitality operators, they are indispensable - their business depends on it. Moreover, terraces add zest to neighbourhoods.”

There are still two months until the terrace season starts again, during which cafe and restaurant owners will have to seek permits in addition to a municipal terrace licence if they want to mount a terrace structure on the pavement, a parking space or elsewhere in the public space.

“There are indeed no more exemptions as of this year,” said Rens Gijsen, spokesperson for Brussels alderman for town planning Anaïs Maes (Vooruit).

Putting a few tables and chairs on the pavement is still allowed without special permission, but Gijsen clarified that “it may not be a structure, it may not be in a parking space, there must be a passage of at least 1.5 metres on the pavement and the furniture must be taken inside in the evening.”

For the past five years, the hospitality sector enjoyed a much more lenient system that had its origins in the pandemic. In the summer of 2020, several Brussels municipalities allowed cafes and restaurants, which were not allowed to accommodate guests inside, to install or extend their terraces on the pavement, a parking space, a square or elsewhere in the public space.

A year later, Pascal Smet (Vooruit), then state secretary for town planning, came up with a uniform regional regulation which applied in the 19 municipalities: decking, windbreaks and other movable terrace structures could be erected without planning permission, not only on the pavement but also in the parking spaces in front of the cafe or restaurant.

However, these had to be temporary terraces, standing there from 1 April to 31 October or during end-of-year celebrations. A free passage of 1.5 metres also had to remain on the pavement, the terrace could not exceed 50m² and the surrounding windbreaks could not be higher than 80cm.

The measures applied until the end of 2022, but Smet extended them at the end of 2022 until September 2024.

“It’s an important source of income for the hospitality industry. Terraces in former parking spaces have shown that the city is more vital if you give space to residents rather than cars,” Smet said at the time.

In Brussels-City, the number of terraces increased by 30% between 2019 and 2023, from 746 to 967. The terraces began to take an increasing bite out of public space, which also led to opposition, including from Free54, a collective of young people who feel increasingly pushed into a corner on Place Sainte-Catherine.

Smet's intention was to permanently enshrine the scheme in Good Living, the planned new Regional Urban Planning Ordinance (GSV), expected by Smet to come into force in 2024. But Good Living did not end up getting government approval.

Ans Persoons, Smet's successor, said that further handling of Good Living, including guidelines for temporary terraces, is a dossier for the next government but that if it does not come soon, she plans to ask the resigning government to extend the pandemic leniency by one year.

“[Not extending] would mean that the Brussels government is totally disinterested in the catering industry,” Léonard said.

"If we have to apply for planning permission for the temporary terraces, it is yet another administrative burden. It's a waste of time both for us and for the administration."

Meanwhile, foodmarket Wolf on Rue du Fossé aux Loups is already applying for planning permission for the permanent 20-metre-long, 50-square-metre wooden terrace that was built during the pandemic period. It was mounted on the parking strip for loading and unloading, which is now considerably shorter. The public enquiry runs until 30 January.