Uccle loses court case over removal of bike parking

The municipality of Uccle and its mayor Boris Dilliès (MR) have lost a court case that Brussels Mobility filed against them over the removal of recently-installed bicycle parking.

The mayor wanted flower boxes installed in a space that formerly contained illegal parking spots, which were determined to be too close to a pedestrian crossing, blocking drivers from seeing people – especially children – attempting to cross.

Brussels Mobility therefore installed bicycle racks instead, which the mayor then had removed and destroyed, despite the municipality having no jurisdiction over the Chaussée de Waterloo, which is a regional road.

After first criticising the removal of the illegal parking places, which Dilliès said were necessary for commercial property owners, the mayor issued public statements of outrage over his lack of flower boxes and claimed Brussels Mobility never consulted with him about the bike racks, which Brussels Mobility disputed.

Dilliès then had his flower boxes installed and announced he would send Brussels Mobility the bill.

A judge has finally ended the months-long dispute in a scathing ruling against the mayor and municipality, Bruzz reports, ordering Uccle to remove the flower boxes and restore the bike racks within five days, with each day's delay resulting in a fine of €5,000, with a maximum of €500,000.

The ruling further stipulates that a hefty fine awaits the municipality should it again order or allow destruction or removal of regional infrastructure, with fines between €50,000 and €500,000. Uccle must also pay all procedural costs.

The judge lashed out sharply at Dilliès in the ruling, saying “this infringement of public order is all the more serious because it has just been committed by the public authority which should watch over that order and therefore also over the respect of property”.

The judgment also notes that the municipality did not choose to merely remove the bicycle racks, but to destroy them.

“In this way, the mayor has simply destroyed property belonging to the region,” the judge wrote.

A total of 17 bicycle parking spots have vanished from the Uccle site where the region installed them.

The municipality said that it only had some of them destroyed and is not responsible for the disappearance of others, but the judge sees it differently: “If the municipality did not have them removed itself, the disappearances are clearly the work of one or more private individuals who were encouraged by the mayor.”

Dilliès said he would comply with the court order and restore the bicycle racks.