Eleven municipalities in the Province of Flemish Brabant went to court to force a breakthrough in new aviation law

While Minister of Mobility François Bellot (MR) is waiting for a study by “an international agency for research”, eleven municipalities in the Province of Flemish Brabant have filed a court case today. This news was reported in newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. Previously Minister Bellot announced that there would be no structural solution for the noise pollution at Brussels Airport in 2019, but those municipalities are fed up by the long waiting time and want to force a breakthrough in court.

The mayors of the municipalities of Steenokkerzeel, Zaventem, Kortenberg, Tervuren, Wemmel, Grimbergen, Kampenhout, Herent, Landen, Halle and Dilbeek are fed up. They, together with the Province of Flemish Brabant, submitted a liability claim to the court in Brussels to oblige the Federal Government to make a new aviation law.

“The flights from Brussels Airport are not evenly spread between our municipalities and Brussels, the city of Brussels remains stubborn, hence we show our disagreement,” Kurt Ryon, Steenokkerzeel mayor said. “Brussels is trying to change aircraft routes with all kinds of rules and court decisions, about time that we get the aviation law that was promised in the government coalition agreement.”

Meanwhile Minister of Transport Bellot says that he wants to properly change the aviation law, as the previous one -plan Wathelet- lead to a series of lawsuits and finally ended up in the waste bin. The international study will be the basis for the new aviation law, but will not be completed in the current legislature (read: not in 2019).