Province, Oudenburg and Alveringem given notice of default for illegal permits

The province of Antwerp and the municipality of Kontich have also been given notice of default.

It concerns four livestock farms whose permits had expired, and have since been illegally exploiting the land. In two of the cases, this had been going on since 2016. In the end, the companies respectively applied for and received a permit. “That is not possible under the current rules of the Nature Decree”, Dries Verhaeghe of Dryade responds.

In principle, the companies did not exist for a period of time. That poses a problem, because according to the nature decree and the nitrogen rules, no new livestock farms are allowed to open, explains Verhaeghe. In addition, the Agency for Nature and Forests is said to have issued a negative advice on the permit applications in two cases. The municipalities ignored this time and time again.

Only notice of default, no further steps

The permits of these companies have now been granted, the environmental organizations will not change that. The environmental organizations are currently limiting themselves to a notice of default. “If we come across another file in the future where municipalities go wrong, we will go to court. We want all provinces and municipalities throughout Flanders to issue better permits,” concludes Dries Verhaeghe.