Several action groups have requested the annulment of the environmental permit that Ostend Airport has been using since the end of this year. The request for annulment was transferred to the Council for Permit Disputes, the action groups reported on Thursday.
The groups are 'Bond Beter Leefmilieu' and the West Flanders action group WILOO (Werkgroep Impact Luchthaven Oostende op Omgeving). The latter's chair Jacques Denecker argued that the new environmental permit removes all protection for residents around the airport.
In particular, the frequency of night flights causes problems, he said. The Ostend airport is normally allowed to have 20 movements per night, which is ten flights. "But those cargo planes are loud and old, they are not modern aircraft like in Zaventem. Besides, people here live a few hundred metres from the runway," he said.
The dossier submitted jointly by Bond Beter Leefmilieu and WILOO runs to some 150 pages. When the Council for Permit Disputes will issue a ruling is not clear. In the past, similar cases have dragged on for years.
