Jabbeke (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Jabbeke bought the old Civil Protection site, which has been used since 2022 as a temporary asylum center for 300 people. Mayor Frank Casteleyn plans a craft zone and youth or community center.
The city of Jabbeke, province of West Flanders, Belgium, bought the old Civil Protection buildings. Mayor Casteleyn has plans for the asylum center buildings once the asylum seekers leave. He wants to use one of the buildings to store things for the city workers.
He wants to tear down some of the other buildings and build a space for small businesses. He also wants to use some of the land to build a community center or a place for young people to hang out.
Will Jabbeke’s former asylum center become a hub for small businesses and community space?
The city of Jabbeke wanted to use the buildings for something else, like a community center or a park. The mayor, Frank Casteleyn, thought it was a good idea. He believed it would be a useful use of the buildings and an improvement to the city.
However, in 2022, the government planned to utilize the buildings as a provisional asylum center. They claimed they needed extra room for asylum seekers since there were too many asylum seekers coming to Belgium.
The government and most of the people in Jabbeke were angry because they did not know about the plan. They thought that the government did not care about what they had to say and did not listen to them. They felt that the government simply made its decision without consulting the people of Jabbeke.
The mayor of Jabbeke, Frank Casteleyn, was upset about the government’s plan to use the old Civil Protection buildings for a temporary asylum center. He didn’t believe the center would be temporary.
He mentioned that the government often makes promises they don’t keep. He joked that his mother-in-law came to visit for 2 weeks but stayed for 10 years. Many people in Jabbeke agreed with the mayor. They were worried that the asylum center would become permanent.
The asylum center in Jabbeke was supposed to be temporary, but the asylum seekers stayed longer than expected. The government kept extending the time they could stay at the center. This made people in Jabbeke worried that the center would become permanent.
Mayor Frank Casteleyn, who had been worried about this from the beginning, was glad to hear that the government had finally decided to close the center. The government agency that runs the asylum centers, Fedasil, has to find a new place for the asylum seekers by November 2025.
