Some 200 people from ‘Non au plan Good Move’ protested the Brussels Good Move mobility plan in Anderlecht on Sunday. The local committees against the mobility plan from several Brussels municipalities are demanding a new regional mobility plan for Brussels.

The committees recently succeeded in collecting the required 1 000 signatures with which to interpellate the Brussels Capital Parliament’s Mobility Committee. The protest march, nicknamed Bad Move, did not attract as many people as expected.

Method is contested

“We will not give up,” chanted those present, some 200 members of the ‘Non au plan Good Move’ committees of Forest, Schaerbeek, Anderlecht, Brussels, and Jette. Last year in August, the mobility plan ‘Good Move” was introduced in Brussels.

The aim is to reduce car traffic in certain zones, and give more space to pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport. But the plan also continues to generate opposition across Brussels.

“We are not opposed to the environmental goals of the Good Move plan or the ambition to improve the quality of life of the city’s residents. But it’s the method that we’re contesting,” says Cécile Vrignon of the committee from Forest.

“When certain new circulation plans were introduced, those neighborhoods were closed, and parking spaces were removed, turning residents’ lives sharply upside down. Some people can no longer park, others are just experiencing a lot of noise and pollution because they live in streets where traffic is just now being redirected.”

In addition, the various committees against Good Move also oppose Good Living, the urban planning ordinance, because of “the threat it poses to parking spaces and real estate prices”.

Schaerbeek and Uccle also complete mobility plans

In general, all the Brussels municipalities must implement the regional mobility plan Good Move on their territory, considering the specific local needs and wishes, allowing them to give it their own interpretation.

After fierce protest, Schaerbeek’s Good Move plans for the Cage aux Ours neighborhood was temporarily put on hold last year. Now Alderman for Mobility Adelheid Byttebier (Groen) and the city council want to make a new attempt, through four public meetings organized with residents from the neighborhood.

In a second phase, a citizens’ panel will then be drawn from among the neighborhood’s residents in September, Brussels news site BRUZZ writes. They will work on the results of the public meetings. By October, the aim is then to knock off the new decisions to take further steps in November.

The public inquiry for a new mobility plan was also opened in Uccle. Mayor Boris Dillies (MR) wants to rely heavily on citizen participation for the final plans but opposes Good Move. The plan should set out the municipality’s mobility vision for the next ten years. The municipal council would vote on the plan, with possible adjustments, at the end of September.