Nature campaigners protest against planned new football stadium in Forest

Environmental organisations such as the non-profit We Are Nature Brussels have criticised plans to build a new stadium for the Union Saint Gilloise (USG) football club on the Bempt site in Forest.

The group argues that the plan is not justified on environmental grounds and that alternatives for a new home for the club that won the league last year have not been carefully considered.

We Are Nature is appealing to the Brussels Region Environmental College against the exemption from the nature conservation ordinance. This exemption would allow some 237 trees to be felled, and 19 bird species and three protected bat species’ habitats to be destroyed.

The regional administration said the project to build on the site currently used for football and other sporting activities met “imperative reasons of overriding public interest”, in particular its “social and economic” dimension. The local council said that there was “no satisfactory alternative”.

The administration also said that granting the exemption “does not prejudge granting of the environmental permit”, adding that the decision relates solely to the conservation status of the species present on site, and not to the project as a whole.

In addition, it maintains that USG will need to follow strict conditions to limit and offset the ecological impact resulting from the exemption.

But We Are Nature has offered several alternatives, such as using the RSC Anderlecht football stadium or, occasionally, grounds in Leuven. These options have already been used for European matches, as Union Saint Gilloise's current home does not meet Uefa standards.

The NGO also states that the options of redeveloping the well-loved, architecturally and environmentally impressive Joseph Marien Stadium or of using alternative grounds, such as part of the former Audi site, have not been seriously assessed.

We Are Nature said that the main public interest is in preserving Brussels’ green spaces, essential in the face of climate change and declining biodiversity.

The action group adds that Urban.brussels, the capital’s organisation responsible for urban redevelopment and heritage protection, and Brussels Environment have not provided sufficient evidence that destroying the Bempt site would not affect maintenance of a favourable conservation status for the species present in the area.