Woluwe-Saint-Lambert welcomes action on overflights

Controversy over flight noise from Brussels Airport at Zaventem has been continuing for decades, especially in communes south of the capital and in Kraainem.

Now one of these communes, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, is pleased to announce that the capital’s environmental administrative body Brussels Environment issued 63 penalty notices in May 2024 for offences relating to overflights in the commune.

Since the installation in 2017 of a sound level meter to measure the disturbance caused by aircraft, this is the first time that legal action has been taken against airlines, the local authority said.

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert had placed the measuring instrument on the roof of the CPAS (social security office) on Rue de la Charrette at the end of October 2017, to demonstrate improper use of the so-called "left turn" air route by aircraft at Brussels Airport.

Now, seven years later, “thanks to the intervention of its lawyer, the municipality has finally succeeded in ensuring that the violations observed by this sound level meter are subject to administrative proceedings,” the commune said.

Brussels Environment data shows that more and more aircraft, some 45% of take-offs, fly over the municipality along this "left turn" route. More than 99% of violations are recorded between 6.00 and 7.00 in the morning.

In practice this means that from 6.00 in the summer period, one aeroplane every five minutes will fly overhead and wake up residents of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and other communes near the airport such as Evere and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.

In the event of an infringement, notably if the aircraft makes too much noise, Brussels Environment will send a penalty notice to the airline, which it will also forward to the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. The latter has six months to decide whether or not to prosecute the airline.

If the public prosecutor does not initiate criminal proceedings, Brussels Environment may decide to impose an alternative administrative fine. This can be as high as €125,000 in the case of multiple offences.

However, while Woluwe-Saint-Lambert welcomes these sanctions, it would prefer more concrete action.

Its petition that has already collected almost 4,000 signatures is calling on the federal government to “finally wake up to this issue and come up with solutions, instead of paying fines as a result of several court rulings following environmental injunctions brought by the Brussels region and Brussels municipalities such as Woluwe-Saint-Lambert”.