The Stadsrandbos is included in a spatial implementation plan, which also provides the golf course. The farmer is the only one with whom no agreement has been concluded for the time being. As a result, Knokke-Heist wanted to expropriate him and also got his right by the judge, but on appeal it is the farmer who now wins.
“I am not selling,” says farmer Ronny Van Belleghem. “They are allowed to stand upside down or toes. I will certainly not sell to the municipality. Here in Knokke you can do everything with a lot of money … I would rather fall to death than folding.”
“The municipality has not motivated the man to expropriate the man enough,” the judge says. The municipality is now considering how to proceed. “It is a bit of an unexpected turn, but we take a deed from the judge’s ruling, and we are now going to consider how we want to continue,” says ships Cathy Coudyser. “The public interest for Knokke-Heist is to realize a city edge forest.”