Residents of Schaerbeek have filed a legal complaint with the Council of State against the future Dutch-language school complex in their area, according to a Tuesday report on BX1, confirmed by the office of the mayor.
According to Marc Weber, head of the office of Mayor Cécile Jodogne, the municipality had ruled against the project, but the regional government granted it the required environmental and urban planning licenses.
Work on the school complex, located on Rue Vanderlinden, began in May.
The residents who filed the lawsuit complain, among other things, against the poor management of the demolition works, wonder about the presence of asbestos in some of the buildings that have been demolished, and complain of work being done in the evening and at weekend.
Where the project itself is concerned, they worry above all about the size of the school, which went from 600 to 1,140 students in the design stage. This was also one of the main reasons for the municipality’s rejection of the project.
"The project was considered too big: too many students, too many dispersed recreational spaces,” said Weber. “The municipality is not against the coming of a Dutch-language school, but it’s against the execution of a project that is too huge.”
Primary school pupils could begin attending the school as early as 2020, while secondary school students are scheduled to start out by 2022
The Brussels Times
