Where there ‘s smoke …
Where there’s smoke…
Good news for our ‘little forest’ on the Dennenlaan.
In a judgement of September the 23rd 2021 the Court for license disputes decided to suspend the allotment permit granted by the province of Flemish Brabant.
On May the 4th 2020 the municipality of Rotselaar had declined the permit, but at appeal the province of Flemish Brabant had converted that into an approval on December the 17th, 2020.
The background to that decision is described in detail in the article, ‘All hands on deck’ in our blog.
Semper Ferraris then requested the Court for licence disputes to annul the approval and suspend the permit pending a final decision.
In the first place, the developers stated that Semper Ferraris would not suffer any disadvantage due to possible deforestation.
The Court on the other hand, correctly ruled that Semper Ferraris is a non-governmental organisation committed to environmental protection. It is thus, by force of law an interested party.
The Court subsequently ruled that the possibility of deforestation in the case of urgency must be excluded. If the developers were to destroy the forest before the permit was cancelled, irreparable damage to the landscape would ensue.
According to the province of Flemish Brabant and the developers the means applied by Semper Ferraris were ‘not serious’. In other words, according to them we ‘didn’t have a leg to stand on!’
The Court disagreed. In a thorough and extensive analysis they made firewood of the decision to allot.
The case law cited by the province whereby any deforestation would cause unavoidable damage was not relevant to this case. The Agency for Nature and Forests (ANB) had already issued advice on three occasions on the basis of the special natural wealth of the plot. This advice was endorsed by the provincial environmental officer.
According to the Court, this advice also applies to residential park areas.
The province does not answer ANB’s pertinent objection; that the damage to the contiguous forest causes significant damage. By distorting the natural elements the province carelessly made an abstraction of the structural damage of a rare contiguous forest.
Moreover the province contradicts itself by stating that the allotment application still causes avoidable damage.
What does this mean concretely?
The developers may not proceed with deforestation until there is a final decision from the Court for license disputes.
The first line of defence of the developers and the province of Flemish Brabant has been broken because they have failed to convince the Court of their arguments.
The proceedings continue and a step has been taken in the right direction. Where there is smoke there is fire (Semper flamma fumo est proxima).
It is important to note that Natuurpunt, Bos+ and the municipality of Rotselaar also request the annulment of the development permit.
Will Justice put an end to the arbitrary policy of provincial politicians who in their public campaigns talk about the environment, open spaces and climate while privately squandering our scarce resources for big money and short term gain?
To be continued,
Talking Moose
‘The more you give a king, the more he wants.’
Jon Snow, Game of Thrones