Koksijde (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Koksijde, led by Mayor Sander Loones, wants 5,000 new residents by allowing year-round living in upgraded holiday parks to ease housing shortages for young families. Needs Flemish approval.
As VRT News reported, Koksijde’s new leaders, with Mayor Sander Loones in charge, are trying to get 5,000 new people to move to the area. They mentioned that this plan is meant to help young families who can’t afford homes there anymore.
They want more people to keep schools, local services, and clubs running well. There will be a lot of new rules about where people can build homes, and part of that plan is to perhaps use campsites and holiday parks as an area for home-building.
What is Koksijde’s plan to allow living in holiday parks?
According to the officials, people can build vacation homes in regular neighbourhoods in Flanders, but not the other way around. Sander Loones thinks this is strange and limits what can be done with existing buildings. Koksijde wants to let people live in nice vacation homes and campsites all year, since they’re often empty.
Loones mentioned that the goal is to create cheaper housing without building new areas. He said it means changing zoning laws, maybe even at a regional level. It could also cause discussions about how this affects the town’s planning, services, and the balance between tourism and living there.
Over 25 years ago, the Flemish government stopped people from living permanently in campsites and holiday parks because of poor living conditions. Back then, many places had old, rundown mobile homes without proper facilities.
The Flemish Government mentioned that the ban aimed to stop the growth of unsafe housing and ensure everyone had decent homes. But Koksijde’s mayor, Sander Loones, says things have changed.
He says many holiday homes today are not outdated or unsafe; in fact,
“the houses in our holiday parks are now more luxurious than some of our apartments.”
He mentioned that with better buildings, good infrastructure, and strict rules, the reason for the ban may no longer be valid in many cases.
Loones wants a new plan that allows people to live in good-quality holiday homes, not like the old, bad housing. He wants a mix of people living there all year. He mentioned that this could also offer cheaper homes for young families and those with less money. But the Flemish government needs to agree to change the old ban. It’s not clear if they will.
