The Walloon Minister for Spatial Planning and Town Planning, Willy Borsus, made his decision in the file of the “Donaire” site in Frameries, directly concerned by the project to set up an apple processing plant of land from the Clarebout company. Willy Borsus refused the modification of the sector plan, but he validated the Local Orientation Plan (SOL). The 24 hectares of the “Donaire” site will therefore only be able to accommodate in the future companies in strict harmony with the environment.
Minister Borsus went to the “Donaire” site in December where he met local representatives and residents opposed to the plan to set up a potato processing plant by the Clarebout company, which already operates sheds and a fridge on the area. “The decision to validate the SOL is very good news for the municipality of Frameries“, indicated the alderman of Frameries Florence van Hout.We had certainly lodged an appeal at the level of the revision of the sector plan, but we knew that there was little chance that it would succeed. On the other hand, the SOL was essential for us and it represents the culmination of enormous work by the municipality which aims to determine the outlines of the activities that could be set up in the area concerned, i.e. activities in harmony with the environment. of the place, integrated into the landscape.“
The “Donaire” area, which will therefore not be able to accommodate the Clarebout potato processing project as it is, is therefore protected in the future with regard to the activities that it will be able to accommodate. A request for revision of the Mons-Borinage sector plan had been submitted in June 2021 by the municipal council of Frameries with a view to the inclusion in a mixed economic activity zone (ZAEM) of land from the “Donaire perimeter” and constituting a part of the industrial economic activity zone (ZAEI) of Frameries. The municipality had motivated its request by the need to be able to have land in a mixed economic activity zone in the medium and long term to meet the needs of setting up small and medium-sized local businesses.
Minister Borsus came to the conclusion that “the need to carry out the revision of the requested sector plan has not been demonstrated”, in particular because the revision project tended “to convert part of the land already occupied by industrial activities duly authorized and incompatible with an assignment in a mixed economic activity zone”.
The Minister therefore refused the revision of the Mons-Borinage sector plan with a view to including land currently allocated as ZAEI in the Frameries business park as ZAEM. However, it approved the SOL for the “Donaire” area, providing, through this double decision, “a balanced solution by maintaining in this region an offer of industrial land while guaranteeing the implementation of the urban planning requirements necessary to the compatibility of the area and its implementation with the living environment and nearby residents”.
We were talking about it a few weeks ago in the RTL info 19h: