Ghent (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Citizens’ group Verenigde Straten Dampoortwijk (VSD) filed complaints against Ghent’s new traffic plan, warning in June 2025 and demanding talks. They say Alderman Vandenbroucke ignores key concerns.
As VRT News reported, in Ghent, the group Verenigde Straten Dampoortwijk (VSD) is not happy with the city’s new traffic plan. They say the old plan was working well. It helped stop cars from cutting through their streets. It made the area safer and calmer.
VSD says there is proof the plan worked. There were fewer cars and less traffic. But now the city wants to change it. VSD says this is a bad idea. They think the city is going backwards. The group has sent a complaint to the Agency for Domestic Governance.
They also sent an official warning to the city. They asked for a meeting, but the city did not respond well. VSD says the city is not listening to them. They want the city to stop and talk to the people first.
What made VSD file a complaint against Ghent’s new plan?
At the end of June 2025, the group Verenigde Straten Dampoortwijk (VSD) gave the City of Ghent a formal warning and asked for a meeting. VSD has sent a complaint to the Agency for Domestic Governance. They want this higher office to step in and ask the city to explain its actions.
VSD wants the city to stop the new plan and start honest talks with local people. They believe any changes to the traffic plan should be based on facts and made with the help of the people who live there. They say the city should not change things on its own without asking the public.
“Alderman Joris Vandenbroucke (For Ghent) avoids fundamental questions and sticks to his decision to allow through traffic in our district again,”
The complaint states.
In the ongoing conflict over the changes to the traffic plan in Dampoortwijk, the City of Ghent says it wants to be open. The city promises that the citizen group Verenigde Straten Dampoortwijk (VSD) will be allowed to see all the data that was used to support the new plans.
The city council earlier said the changes come from a full study. That study looked at traffic numbers and asked people in the area what they think. The answers and numbers helped decide how the city should move forward with the traffic rules.
Still, even though the city offers to share this information, Alderman Filip Vandebroucke, who is in charge of mobility, says he does not want to say more right now. Because of this, many of the questions that VSD asked still do not have answers.
VSD says they may go to court if the city does not agree to talk. They want local people to help decide what happens in their area. They say the city should respect the progress that has already been made. They also want the city to listen to what residents think before making changes.
They mentioned that taking legal steps is not new in Ghent. When the first traffic plans started, some people who did not like them also went to court. Now it is the people who supported those plans who are speaking out.
They think the city is changing direction in a bad way. They say the city is moving away from a good plan that made streets safer and had fewer cars. This change has made many people worried and upset.
