Brussels State Secretary for Urbanism Pascal Smet is concerned about the future of the regional Good Move mobility plan as he fears that the broad support for it is now disappearing after the growing protests in several districts in recent weeks.
In the previous Brussels government, Smet was Mobility Minister and one of the founders of the Good Move plan, which prioritises pedestrians and cyclists over drivers and aims to make numerous neighbourhoods across the Capital Region largely car-free.
"During the last two years of my mandate as Brussels Mobility Minister, we had reached a very broad consensus on the Good Move plan," he said in an interview with La Libre. "We succeeded in overcoming party rivalries and divisions between supporters and opponents, but that broad support for this plan is disappearing."
Smet regrets the protests – that sometimes turned into vandalism – in various municipalities against the implementation of the plan, referring to the roadblocks that were moved in the Anderlecht district of Cureghem or the traffic signs and bollards that were unscrewed in the Cage-aux-Ours neighbourhood in Schaerbeek.
Improving quality of life
Still, reversing the plan is not an option for him. "Transit traffic must be kept on the main roads and the quality of life in the neighbourhoods must be improved," Smet said, adding that the solution partly lies in presenting the plan and communicating about it differently.
"It should be understood as a plan to improve the quality of life in the districts. In Cureghem or Schaerbeek, people have had to adapt their mobility," Smet said. "They have seen concrete blocks appear. But they did not get the dream of a more pleasant neighbourhood to live in."
He emphasised that more dialogue is needed with opponents of the plan, but that the municipalities "should not systematically agree with those who shout the loudest" – echoing statements by the Schaerbeek municipal council following Monday's protest, which he strongly condemned.
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On Wednesday afternoon, a few dozen Schaerbeek residents in favour of the Good Move plan also organised a demonstration to show their support for the changes to reduce car traffic in the area, as a counterweight to the protests in the days before after which a firefighter had to be taken to hospital and two police offers were lightly injured.
"It is not okay for firefighters and police officers to get hurt, but we need to get back to discussing the plan with each other, we need to return to dialogue," Smet said. "Where this has not worked so far, new methods of participation may need to be tried."
