The Flemish administration has issued a permit for a link road between the Brussels Ring Road and Parking C at Heysel, according to the business newspaper L’Echo. The link road is considered essential for NEO, the Heysel redevelopment project.

However, according to the Flemish Environment Department, the link road has a purely logistical function and is separate from the NEO project. Brussels mayor Philippe Close (PS) nevertheless called the permit delivery “a major advance” for NEO.

Controversial project

The NEO project, carried by, among others, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the largest commercial real estate company in Europe, is a controversial urban planning project by the city of Brussels on the Heysel, aimed at increasing the capital’s international appeal.

It envisages a congress center, a leisure and recreation center with a tourist and sports offer, a shopping center, residential units, a hotel, and office space. The investment would amount to more than 1 billion euros.

The link road for which a permit has now been issued is considered essential to reduce the risk of surrounding neighborhoods being overwhelmed by the traffic that the construction of the new project will bring.

The road will connect car park C (located near the Ring Road) to Avenue de l’Impératrice Charlotte/Keizerin Charlottelaan, located between Brussels Expo and the King Baudouin Stadium, via a tunnel under the ‘Roman Road’ (Romeinse Steenweg/Chaussée Romaine).

The section on Brussels territory (536 m) was previously approved and completed. Henceforth, the section located on the territory of Flanders (149 m) is also authorized.

Service road

The Flemish Environment Department confirmed to the Belga news agency that a permit has been issued but added that the link road is not being built as a function of implementing a new project, such as NEO.

“The link road is only intended as a service road for the existing activities at the Heysel,” the spokesperson says. “The road has a purely logistical function. It will be used for shuttle buses taking people from car park C to Heysel and for logistical traffic from exhibitors and suppliers.

Only this traffic will be able to use the connecting road and will, therefore, no longer have to drive through the surrounding residential streets,” he says.

13,3 million visitors a year

The Brussels Capital Region launched a new and fourth public inquiry into the NEO project on the Heysel site in June 2023. Previous versions of the plans for the NEO project were each time canceled by the Council of State. This was in 2015, 2017, and 2020. The fourth investigation into the amendment of the Regional Zoning Plan for the Heysel Plateau project will last until 3 August.

The Brussels government wants to amend the Regional Zoning Plan and rename the House Plan to an Area of Regional Interest (GGB). With such a GGB, an Environmental Impact Report is no longer necessary, so basically, anything can happen in the area.

Previous consultations showed that the NEO project would attract 13,3 million visitors a year, of which 9,6 million would be through the shopping center alone. This would lead to 50% more congestion on the surrounding roads.

Brussels mayor Philipp Close called the permit for the link road on Twitter “a major advance for the development of the Heysel Plateau & NEO. This mobility solution is positive for the Flemish Region and Brussels. Proof that with dialogue and by working together, we can strengthen our economic development.”