Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- Pascal Smet (One.Brussels-Vooruit), who calls himself the father of Good Move, is concerned about the future of the plan. More dialogue and a better presentation of the plan is needed, he says in La Libre Belgique.
Current State Secretary for Urban Planning Pascal Smet was Minister of Mobility during the previous legislature. He was one of the founders of Good Move, the regional mobility plan that aims to make the Brussels neighbourhoods car-free.
There were already major protests in various municipalities against the entry into force of the plan, which Smet regrets. “During the last two years of my mandate as Minister of Mobility in Brussels, we had reached a very broad consensus on the Good Move plan,” says Smet. “We had succeeded in overcoming party rivalries and divisions between supporters and opponents. But the broad support for this plan is disappearing.”
Despite the protest, reversing the plan is not an option, according to Smet. “Transit traffic must be kept on the main roads and the quality of life in the neighbourhoods must be improved.”
According to Smet, the solution lies partly in a different presentation of the plan. “It should be understood as a plan to improve life in the neighbourhoods. In Cureghem or Schaerbeek, people have had to adapt their mobility, they have seen concrete blocks appear. But they did not get the dream of a more pleasant neighbourhood to live in.”
Smet emphasises that more dialogue is needed with opponents of the plan, but that the municipalities “should not systematically agree with those who shout the loudest.” He also condemns the protests. “You can’t allow firefighters and police officers to get hurt. But we need to get back to the thread of the dialogue. Where this has not worked so far, new methods of participation may need to be tried.”
