Sint-Truiden (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Sint-Truiden’s mayor, Ludwig Vandenhove, is tackling city centre vacancies by taxing long-empty stores, enforcing stricter building rules, and listing vacant shops to attract businesses and boost the local economy.
Sint-Truiden mayor Ludwig Vandenhove is concerned since there are lots of vacant shops in the city centre. He believes vacant shops give the city a bad image and that people, companies, and investors will not be interested in coming. He mentioned that a busy shopping area is good for everyone in the city.
According to Ludwig Vandenhove, when stores are empty for a long time, the area feels like no one is there, and fewer people come to shop. This makes it harder for new businesses to open. To fix this problem, the city is making a list of all the empty stores. They will use this information to find ways to fill the empty stores.
How will Sint-Truiden revive its empty stores?
The city of Sint-Truiden is working to bring new life to its empty stores. They want to figure out why the stores are empty and then do things to make new businesses want to open there. The city hopes this will help them make the shopping areas better, and stop the economy from getting worse.
According to the mayor, it’s important to keep the city centre busy and successful because it helps everyone, even the businesses that are already doing well. He mentioned that when there are lots of shoppers, people invest more money in the city, people feel good about the city, and people get more involved, which makes the city stronger.
A shopping street with many vacant buildings contributes to a negative image of the entire city. The city centre looks so neglected,
Mayor Ludwig Vandenhove says.
A shopping street with a flourishing trade is also important for the traders who are doing well.
The city of Sint-Truiden is trying to fix the problem of empty stores. They are doing things to encourage building owners to rent out their spaces faster and at reasonable prices. One thing they are doing is charging a tax on landlords who have empty buildings for a long time. The mayor is upset that some people own many buildings in the city but don’t rent them out unless they can get a very high price.
He mentioned that the tax is meant to make it less good for owners to leave their buildings empty. The city hopes this will make landlords rent out their buildings at lower prices, which will help new businesses open.
The city of Sint-Truiden is also taking action to make sure buildings are safe and well-maintained. They mentioned that some buildings look good from the outside, but there are reports that some buildings are in bad shape inside, especially on the upper floors. The mayor says some floors are so weak that people are afraid they might fall through.
According to the officials, to fix this, the city is going to make stricter rules about how buildings have to be kept. If building owners don’t fix problems, the city can say the building is unsafe and close it down.
