The planning permit, the road permit and the parking permit issued in 2017 by the Brussels Region and the City of Brussels authorizing the installation of gates and security gates in front of the American Embassy on Boulevard du Régent are cancelled. The three judgments rendered on February 17 by the Council of State are clear: occupy the public domain by a safety device permanently preventing the circulation of pedestrians, cyclists and cars is not permitted.
A physical barrier for clients of a notary
These various authorizations were disputed by neighbors of the embassy (located at 25-27 of the boulevard, on the service road along the Petite Ceinture), including a co-owner and a notary. For the latter, these gates and these gates constitute a barrier preventing his clients from going to his study. Moreover, he considers that the permit could not be issued without first decommissioning the road. That is to say: take the roads out of the public domain for the benefit of a private sector, the embassy in this case.
road permit would also harm “to its framework and its quality of work and those of its employees due to the presence of security grilles in front of the windows of its study and their visual and aesthetic impacts“.
Enhanced security since September 11, 2001
Security at the US Embassy in Brussels concerns the US and Belgian authorities since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Threats targeting US interests and nationals are frequent. The buildings which have two entrances, boulevard du Régent and rue Ducale, are heavily guarded.
But this is the first through which the public enters, which poses concerns in terms of protection. As a result, shortly after the attacks, the embassy began to barricade itself and to privatize the side roads by preventing car and pedestrian traffic there. Grids are installed.
In 2015, the Region authorizes the installation of new gates. But following an appeal from local residents, including the notary, the town planning permit was canceled, recalls The Capital of January 29, 2017.
In July and September 2017, three new permit applications in good and due form were submitted to the City of Brussels and the Brussels Region: town planning but also roads and parking. The objective is to no longer be found wanting at the legal level. But new actions with the Council of State are introduced. They have therefore just been completed.
big win
For the Council of State,the placement of the grids on the public domain constitutes a private use and, in the absence of an adequate state authorization, the town planning permit which authorizes their installation ignores the assignment of the road network“.
The road permit authorizes, according to the Council of State, “an exclusive occupation of a part of the public domain which is materialized by a security device consisting of gates and gates of black color, the installation of which is authorized by the planning permit“. And it has an impact “unfavorable and direct“on the neighbors of the embassy but also in terms of urban transformation of the district, within the framework of a possible road construction site.
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