Come September, it will no longer be possible to build outside of urban or village hubs in Flemish Brabant's Sonian Forest and Senne Valley.
Plans demarcating the urbanised areas where further construction will be allowed, were approved this week by the Provincial Council of Flemish Brabant. These indicate precisely where future residential development can occur.
“We need to live, work and dwell more in the heart of our towns and villages to conserve the open spaces separating them," legislator Ann Schevenels, who is responsible for spatial planning in the province, said on Tuesday. "The delineation of these hubs is a necessary step in this regard.”
The land use plans were crafted in cooperation with municipal councils from the Forêt de Soignes area - namely Overijse, Tervuren and Rhode-Saint-Genèse – and the Senne Valley – Halle, Beersel and Sint-Pieters-Leeuw.
The idea is to preserve the green and more rural residential areas from further densification. It will be up to the municipalities to formulate more specific building rules for the delimited hubs.
