The owners of eight buildings on Radesingel and Verlengde Oosterstraat must remove their decking on the Verbindingskanaal. The court decided this last Thursday. The decking was built without an environmental permit and must therefore be removed.
A couple with a home on the Verbindingskanaal applied for a permit in 2019 to build a deck. The municipality rejected the permit. The couple built the deck anyway and initiated summary proceedings against the municipality.
The couple won that case in court the same year. The judge then stated that the municipality could not only focus on the couple with the rejection of the permit, because the neighbors also placed their decking on the waterfront without a permit.
And that is what the municipality did: the other owners were also instructed to remove the decking and other items, such as benches, tables, stairs and a barbecue. According to the council, the decking was built on municipal land with a public green designation. According to the council, this land was not allowed to be developed for private use.
The owners did not agree with this and therefore appealed to the court against the council’s decisions. However, the court decided against most residents: in six of the seven cases, the court ruled that the council was right to take enforcement action against the buildings. “The owners must remove the decking and other items because they were built in public greenery,” the court said. “Buildings intended for private use do not fit in there. The council may let the general interest of a green appearance of the canal outweigh the interest of the owners in preserving the decking.”
In one case an owner was partially right. This owner must remove the constructed decking, but may leave the brick retaining wall in place.
2023-09-08 12:33:00
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