Two weeks ago, the negotiations around the Champ des Cailles seemed carried by favorable winds. This Tuesday, change of course, or rather brake: the mayor Olivier Deleuze (Ecolo) indicates leaving the negotiating table with the regional authorities.
As a reminder, the showdown opposes the socialist regional authorities and the ecological municipal authorities on the future of this rural land partially occupied by agricultural activity. Two weeks ago, the Farm announced that it would not oppose a construction project, hoping however for the lowest impact. The actors therefore sat around the table, but no agreement might be sealed…
The municipality of Watermael-Boitsfort has proposed the construction of 80 social housing units within the perimeter of the PPAS: 30 on the Triomas plot (rue des Scabieuses), 25 on the Petites Cailles plot… and 25 on the Champ des Cailles plot. To which would be added the conversion of 13 average dwellings into social housing. “Unfortunately, in the current state of contacts, the SLRB does not accept this compromise proposal”says Olivier Deleuze in a press release, who says he is ready to get back to the table “but not at any price”.
The PS “disillusioned” by Ecolo
“I’m disillusioned”, retorts the Brussels deputy Martin Casier (PS), leader of the socialist group in Watermael-Boitsfort. “I thought we had managed to put a positive dynamic back in place. It’s a lack of political courage to build social housing.”
The PS says it is ready to distribute part of the seventy or so dwellings on the Petites Cailles land, and ensures that it preserves all of the market gardening activity.
A meadow oh so symbolic for the Greens
On the mayor’s side, we remind you that Watermael-Boitsfort is the municipality in Brussels with the highest rate of social housing (18%) and we call on the other municipalities to respect the regional commitments. For the former co-president of Écolo, “the Champ des Cailles is the manifestation of the evolution of life in the city”. “You have to take into account the world of tomorrow. Le Champ shows the desire of young people to have daily contact with nature and the planet.”
The land belonging to Logis Floréal, the Region might therefore initiate the construction project without the blessing of the municipality. The PS in any case does not seem ready to let go. “I cannot accept the hold-up of a site which belongs to social tenants to graze a few sheep there”, announces bluntly the Secretary of State for Housing, Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) in a press release.
But the municipality claims not to have said its last word and says it is ready to initiate the blocking procedures…