Social workers to be deployed to Brussels public parks

The Brussels-Capital Region’s environmental agency Bruxelles Environnement is spending €2 million on additional supervision in parks and green spaces. The goal of the project is to improve social cohesion and security as part of the fight against terrorism.

The agency plans to hire 43 park stewards who will act as social workers in the parks. The parks themselves are not harbours of radicalism, but “more and more large families are moving in to tower blocks around the parks,” Serge Kempeneers of Bruxelles Environnement told Bruzz. “Four or five children in a small apartment is not tenable. They have more need than ever of the city parks to play and exercise.” Creating safe spaces for them is “a way of maintaining peace,” he said.

The region decided shortly after the events of 22 March to make extra financing available for security, including in the green spaces. “This is an important reinforcement for us,” Kempeneers said.

“In practice, the new stewards will have the profile of social workers, with their roots in the neighbourhood and a strong and positive connection with the life of the area,” explained Céline Fremault, environment minister for the Brussels region.

The new staff will be detailed mainly to Parc Elisabeth in Koekelberg (pictured) and Liedekerke park in Saint-Josse, as well as the new park planned for the Porte de Ninove and the four municipal parks recently taken over by the region: Parc Forestier in Anderlecht and the Parc Marie-José, Parc Albert and L28 park, all in Molenbeek.

Photo: DSParnasse/Wikimedia