Province delays Tervuren’s McDo closure

Objectors to a new highway restaurant on the busy N3 Leuvensesteenweg have once again been vindicated by the province's highest environmental official. She instructed five nominated provincial politicians to reject the application for urban planning actions submitted by the multinational McDonald's.

Vlaams-Brabant’s senior politicians decided, on Thursday 1 February, to delay, for up to 60 days, a decision on the permit request submitted by McDonald’s for a fast-food outlet near Tervuren’s park and African museum.

The 60-day delay, requested by the US fast-food giant’s lawyers, further pushes back sorely needed closure in Tervuren’s Great Hamburger War. And the delay comes shortly after Vlaams-Brabant’s most senior environmental officer issued a negative assessment for McDonald’s.

At the end of the 60-day period, the province of Vlaams-Brabant could well end Tervuren’s Hamburger War. Tervuren was chosen as a prime location in the multinational’s post-Covid expansion plans with 50 new fast-food temples in Belgium.

Vicious Facebook battles

Since 2020, Tervuren’s Great Hamburger War has mostly been fought out on Facebook. At times, the fray descended into vicious language targeting those campaigning against McDonald’s, especially if from the town’s sizeable 43% of non-Belgian origin. Groups supporting McDonald’s point to employment opportunities offered by the fast-food giant. And they doubt the negative assessment made by Vlaams-Brabant’s most senior environmental officer, notably concerning road safety and increased traffic.

The McDonald's would be located a stone's throw away from Tervuren's beautiful park.

Objectors to McDonald’s near the park and four of the town’s schools have been dismissed by fast-food supporters as lefties, Greens and the privileged centered around the British School of Brussels (BSB). Homing in on allegations that McDonald’s increases car pollution and traffic jams is ‘rich’, says the pro-McDonald’s camp, especially when coming from wealthy non-Belgian parents dropping off kids in giant SUVs at the €42,000 per year school.

McDonald’s might actually help smooth traffic on the congested Leuvensesteenweg (N3), they say. “Maybe people eat something first and it would be less busy on the main road,” says another fast-food fan.

Echoing that sentiment, current Tervuren mayor Marc Charlier has maintained that not granting McDonald’s a building permit would be ‘condescending’, notably dictating what food is healthy.

“A final decision has been postponed today,” the group Niet In Tervuren said today in a statement. The group are also hopeful the four senior Vlaams-Brabant politicians will listen to their expert’s advice about the dangerous increase in traffic for pedestrians and children cycling to school.”

Niet In Tervuren does not see McDonald’s correcting all the problems raised by the provincial environmental officer. “The inadequately substantiated file raises too many questions regarding road safety, the lack of parking spaces and the violation of Article 30 of the Flemish environmental permit decree,” the group said. “The mobility test was apparently not convincing either, also because the test was carried out in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.”

Contradicting the town’s vision

“The strong emphasis on cars contradicts the town’s vision, which aims to prioritize pedestrian and bicycle traffic over cars. And the increase in car traffic during peak hours, especially after school, could adversely affect the safety of vulnerable road users,” Vlaams-Brabant’s senior environmental officer sentenced last month in her advice.

In the advice to Vlaams-Brabant’s four senior decision-making deputies, the provincial environmental officer adds that multinational McDonald’s application for a drive-thru fast-food restaurant “does not fit with the criteria of good spatial planning”. Tervuren’s very own mobility plan aims at cutting car traffic by 10 percent before 2030.

Traffic and road safety formed a key environmental objection.

In her 13-page report, the officer gives bad marks to Tervuren for legal mistakes, infringing on article 30 of Flanders’ environmental permit decree. The town should legally have organized a second inquiry after changing McDonald’s original request for a building permit. Another drawback in Tervuren’s decision is accepting McDonald’s mobility study — conducted amidst the ultra low traffic of Covid-19 lock-downs — especially on road safety and parking.

The final decision will be taken by just four senior provincial decision-makers or ‘deputies’. Former Tervuren mayor Jan Spooren presides meetings as Vlaams-Brabant’s governor. But Spooren does not vote. In 2020, when still Tervuren’s mayor, he rejected McDonald’s first application, just before being promoted out to the better-paid post of governor. Spooren then handed over Tervuren’s mayorship, worth some €96,000 per year, to party colleague Marc Charlier.

Strong emphasis on cars contradicts the town’s vision, which aims to prioritize pedestrian and bicycle traffic over cars. And the increase in car traffic during peak hours, especially after school, could adversely affect the safety of vulnerable road users.

Vlaams-Brabant’s senior environmental officer

“It’s the members of the provincial governing body, the deputation, that handle the appeal. They decide even if Jan [Spooren] is the chair,” a source familiar with town planning told Tervuren+. Provincial deputies should normally follow the experts’ advice. But mayors may try to influence deputies, especially if they need or want a specific decision.

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