The traffic signs are ready and residents have been informed. Zwijnaarde will wake up on Monday morning with a new circulation plan. At the end of November 2023, it was almost time, but the plan was banned at the last minute by a judge. Local residents of Rijvisschestraat had gone to court because they did not like one-way traffic there.
At the initiative of Mayor Mathias De Clercq (Open VLD), a consultation followed between him, the residents and Alderman of Mobility Filip Watteeuw (Green). This resulted in a system with license plate cameras as a compromise to stop cut-through traffic.
READ ALSO. Residents are winning: residential area will not have one-way traffic, but cameras
Maladministration
“But other residents were not given the opportunity to negotiate,” the DORP 9052 action committee writes in a letter to the city council. “However, they also experience cut-through traffic and road safety, and from now on they will also have to take a detour as a result of the planned cuts. This is improper administration, unequal treatment and a violation of the principle of equality.”
Moreover, DORP 9052 believes that there is something to be said about the circulation plan. “This plan causes serious damage to local entrepreneurs, because accessibility and parking facilities in the area are significantly deteriorating. In addition, it will lead to more traffic jams on the remaining approach roads, such as the Heerweg Noord-Heerweg Zuid axis and the Della Faillelaan-Tramstraat axis.”
READ ALSO. “One district in Ghent has managed to do what no other district has done before it”
Right
The residents ask to postpone the plan again and to consult “with all residents of Zwijnaarde”. Otherwise, DORP 9052 threatens legal action, such as a unilateral petition to a judge to have the plan banned again. On Sunday evening it was still unclear whether that petition would be submitted and, if so, whether it would reach a judge before the circulation plan came into effect.
“We’ll see what still works,” spokesman Tom Van Wynsberge said on Sunday evening. “But we especially want to send a signal to the city council that we want an open discussion. Everyone wants safer traffic, that’s right. But this shifts the problem, rather than solving it. Moreover, this does not address the major traffic jams in Zwijnaarde, such as the traffic jams towards the N60. A new mobility plan is needed, but we ask for openness to consider alternatives.”
READ ALSO. “Without a car you are nothing here” or “I hold my breath every day”: scrapped circulation plan divides residents
Incomprehensible
“I find this incomprehensible,” responds Alderman Watteeuw. “We have made a lot of efforts in recent months to involve all residents of Zwijnaarde in the plan. There were information markets and other ways to provide feedback. During the consultation with the mayor and the people from the Rijvissche district, we also deliberately invited other residents, with the intention of giving everyone an opportunity to participate in the consultation. Two people from DORP 9052 were even there, and they could say whatever they wanted.”
Watteeuw also finds the timing strange. “The details of the plan have been known since January. We only received the letter late last Thursday evening. Why did people wait so long? To be clear: we are happy to enter into discussions, and if it turns out that adjustments need to be made to the neighborhood mobility plan, we will make adjustments where necessary.”
READ ALSO. 7 years later… Ghent starts Monday with the first circulation plan in the sub-municipality: what do you need to know?
Tags: Circulation plan Zwijnaarde effect Monday residents reversed unequal treatment Ghent
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