2023-08-13 12:26:00
The candy manufacturer Joris in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe received a formal notice from Brussels Environment on Wednesday. Following a complaint from a neighbour, the regional agency felt that the company, established here since 1938, generated too much noise pollution. “We risk a fine of 125,000 euros and a cessation of our activities.”
Questioned by our colleagues from Het Nieuwsblad who reveal the information, Diederik Van den Driessche, fourth generation of Joris confectionery, explains that his factory does not exceed 40 decibels and produces from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Since 1938 and we have never had a complaint.” But since 1938, things have changed. A nearby carpentry has been transformed into accommodation. No problem with the first owners for 15 years but during confinement, while production was stopped, the apartment was sold.
”This is a Kafkaesque situation where a company with almost 100 years of experience is suddenly threatened in its survival by a neighbor’s complaint. I feel like I’m fighting against windmills,” laments the confectioner to our colleagues.
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For his part, the neighbor who filed a complaint with Brussels Environment assures in the columns of Het Nieuwsblad that he does not want to close the factory. “We just want a solution to noise pollution […] Since this Brussels authority confirmed the noise pollution of its factory in October 2021 and sent it a formal notice, Mr Van den Driessche has turned a blind eye. […] From 6 am the noise from the factory starts next to the house. Some sounds sound like someone sliding a metal bar against a radiator. At other times, it feels like being in the cabin of an airplane.”
The insulation work would be “technical and costly. And it is not certain that such insulation will solve the noise problems,” retorts the factory.
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