After the municipality of Anderlecht recently tore up the Brussels-Capital Region's 'Good Move' traffic plan, the mobility city councillor for the Woluwe-Saint-Lambert municipality also said he "will not hesitate to reject" any changes he does not agree with.
The Good Move framework, which re-designs Brussels' traffic flow to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists over cars, is being introduced across Brussels in waves. In Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, mobility councillor Grégory Matgen is keeping a close eye on its implementation in the district of Roodebeek.
"With regard to mobility, 95% of things are going well in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. By tackling the negative 5%, we should not create problems where none existed before," Matgen told SudInfo this weekend, adding that previous surveys and opinion polls have shown that residents are satisfied with the way mobility was organised in the area.
However, upcoming changes in the Roodebeek area aimed at discouraging transit traffic might change that, he fears. "If the changes are not in line with the local reality, I will not hesitate the reject them."
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Matgen also compared the situation to Anderlecht, which recently decided to withdraw the Good Move plan in the Cureghem area to completely start over, following several weeks of protest, vandalism and threats against local politicians.
"If we are not convinced by the Region's proposals, they will not be implemented and we will not go any further," he said, adding that he wanted the project to be properly presented to the residents to come up with "coherent and reasonable proposals."
In the meantime, a number of proponents of the new circulation plan launched the hashtag #WeLoveGoodMove on Twitter over the weekend after microbiologist Emmanuel André – who gained some social media recognition as the French-speaking spokesperson for Sciensano during the Covid-19 pandemic – spoke out in favour of the new mobility plan.
"I think the Good Move plan is an essential step to further transform Brussels into a 21st-century city. It can even go much further," André said. He was quickly joined by other Good Move fans, who launched the hashtag to counter the protests against the new circulation plan across the Region.
With the plan, the Brussels Regional Government wants to roll out 30 low-traffic neighbourhoods over the next few years.
