Protest against breaking yard in Ingooigem, municipality and company appease

The Klijtberg neighborhood committee collects protest signatures against the arrival of a breaking yard in their neighborhood in Ingooigem. Over three periods, the manager would break concrete for five days. But against the will of people in the neighborhood: “That concrete crusher comes 70 meters from my terrace,” says a local resident. “If I want to sit on my terrace in the summer and it just has a break week and I just have that one week of vacation, what then? I fear noise and dust nuisance and also the vibrations.”

And there are also the trucks that drive up and down. “That will be a traffic jam here,” it sounds in the neighborhood.

The residents blame the municipality for not giving advice to the province, which will soon decide on the environmental permit. The municipality did not do that because of the involvement, it sounds, because it is they who sold the heavy industrial land. “We think the municipality received a lot of money for this,” says Naomi Surgeloose of the Klijtberg neighborhood committee. “We think that is why they now turn a blind eye to the whole story. They would have made it a better residential expansion area.”

“Since 1977 it has been colored as a heavy industrial site,” explains Mayor Gino Devogelaere. “We will not change that. Those houses have been sold cheaply there. There is a reason for that. But the neighbors should not exaggerate either. That will not be a company that causes a lot of dust and noise nuisance. It is only his own material that he incorporated.”

The municipality must always also issue the breaking permit. The company must also comply with environmental regulations. “And that’s what we plan to do,” says business manager Sander Sulmon (photo). “The studies are ongoing and the specialists are working on it. They look at the standards and comfort of the neighbors. They look for as little as possible or even no nuisance. I don’t want to be the boogeyman or the cowboy here, on the contrary.”

During the public inquiry, the committee only filed about 30 objections because it was aware of the situation too late, they say.