Karin Bruers falls into her daughter’s arms in tears after the trial. The Tilburg comedian has just heard that the administrative judge needs a month and a half to make a ruling on the vegan restaurant she wants to start. Another delay. The neighbors took her to court again. “When will these people stop?” Bruers asks desperately.
Bruers’ neighbors are not the least: catering icons Jan and Monique Meurs. They grew big with the Lekker en Laag supermarket and now they have a brasserie right opposite Bruers’ construction site, in the Oisterwijk forests and fens. According to de Meursen, the environmental permit granted by the municipality is incorrect.
“It has to be ready now. We’re just done.”
Lawsuits have been going on about Bruers’ vegan restaurant for a year. She couldn’t build for all that time. And that breaks her, after the judge has said that he will not make a ruling until February 21: “God knows what they will do next. It must be ready now. We’re just exhausted,” she says in tears.
In September it still seemed that Bruers could continue. Then the judge ruled that she was not violating any environmental rules. But the Meurses did not leave it at that. Their sore point now is the number of parking spaces that Bruers is planning for her restaurant: 22. According to them, that is too little.
Bruers is stuck, because nitrogen emissions are also a problem. The judge previously ruled that Bruers is not allowed to emit nitrogen, which is why she decided that only electric cars are allowed to park there.
“When will these people stop?”
But how do you check that, the judge wondered during the hearing on Wednesday afternoon. The municipality says it cannot be controlled. But according to Bruers it is simple: “I only work with reservations, fuel cars do not come to my site.”
All the legal hassle drives Bruers to despair: “No matter how I arrange it, with parking spaces and only on reservation: if he doesn’t get me on nitrogen, he will screw me with fossil fuel. When will these people stop?” she says about her neighbors.
Jan and Monique Meurs did not want to respond on Wednesday. They did say during the hearing that they have nothing against Bruers’ plans for a restaurant. Earlier, Monique Meurs told Omroep Brabant: “We like it when someone comes next to us, but she also has to adhere to the rules.”
“They stick ten daggers in my back and ask if I want coffee afterwards.”
Could the parties perhaps have a cup of coffee together? the judge wondered. The Meurses are willing to do so, they showed during the hearing. Bruers: “But if you get ten daggers in your back, they will then ask: ‘Do you want coffee?’ Yes, but then take out half the daggers. No, they don’t, they add another one. They’re just doing a charm offensive. They knowingly ensure that it does not go ahead. That is their goal.”
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