Ignored Court Warning Delays Tervuren’s €1.7mn Leuvensesteenweg Waste Centre

Plans to build a €1.7 million municipal waste centre in the Vossem Business Park on the N3 have been thrown into renewed uncertainty after Mayor Thomas Geyns and his administration acknowledged that a September 2025 Constitutional Court ruling casts doubt on the legality of the project’s building permit — a permit the municipality granted to itself in October 2025.

The administration failed to take account of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, issued just a month earlier, which found that Flemish rules allowing municipalities to approve their own construction projects violate European law. That oversight now threatens to invalidate the authorization for the new waste centre along the Leuvensesteenweg (N3).

This deserves some extra explanation: Mayor Thomas Geyns

“This deserves some extra explanation,” Geyns told his nearly 4,000 Facebook followers. “A local authority may not grant itself a building permit according to Europe. In Flanders, that was possible.”

Although Tervuren was not a party to the cases that triggered the ruling, the consequences are immediate. “While we have an enforceable permit for the construction of our waste centre, the likelihood is high that it will be annulled,” said Geyns, who continues to practice law and has pleaded cases before the Council for Permit Disputes. “This is pure Kafka. Tervuren will have to submit the exact same file to the province. A huge loss of time, another round through the paper mill, and meanwhile everything becomes more expensive.”

No foot- or cycle path on Tervuren’s most dangerous road, the N3

An ongoing appeal by a Vossem resident argues that no additional traffic — particularly heavy-duty vehicles — should be allowed until a safe cycling and walking route is built along what is widely considered Tervuren’s most dangerous road, the N3. Budget constraints have meanwhile frozen plans for the long-promised path.

Geyns, who oversees urban planning, has repeatedly criticized the resident, whose lawsuits have halted permits for several businesses in the park. “Fortunately, there is perspective,” he said, noting that the municipality has already won several cases against what he called “one serial complainant who is trying to sabotage the entire business park as a motor for economic progress.”

Tervuren must now await a ruling from the Council for Permit Disputes before refiling the project with the province — a process officials concede could take years. A car wash is currently the only active business on the site, alongside the recently opened police station that cost over €15 million—twice the original budget, according to Geyns back in 2023.

Waste collection: twice as slow and twice as expensive

The new waste center will operate under Tervuren’s smart bin system that is now being rolled out. But weighing residual waste has sparked political tensions. Former N‑VA mayor Marc Charlier opposed the plan, arguing it would be “twice as slow and twice as expensive.” Now in coalition with current Mayor Thomas Geyns (Voor Tervuren/Open VLD), Charlier has still objected to nearly €1 million in construction costs for collection sites (13–15 locations at roughly €60,000 each) and an expensive specialized truck. Charlier also criticised the loss of parking spaces.