User:WjI-kop/Uplace

Uplace is a planned shopping mall near Vilvoorde, Belgium, just above Brussels' orbital road. It will have 190,000 square metres (2,000,000 sq ft) of space for shops, restaurants, a cinema, a bowling hall, a theme park and 91 meter tall skyscraper with office buildings. Projected costs are around € 600 million and it will provide 3,100 jobs for the region. Uplace is part of a Flemish project to build three malls around Brussels: Neo, Just under the sky (JUST) and Uplace. After controversy about the building permit, the project was put on a hold by the Flemish Government.

Controversy

In May 2012 Flemish minister Joke Schauvliege gave Uplace its building permit, though her officials gave a negative environmental advice. Environmental campaigners and entrepreneurs like Unizo went to the Belgian Council of State, who overruled the Flemish government and rejected the plan's building permit in December 2012. According to the Council of State, the environmental impacts would be too high. The project caused controversy in the Flemish Government: the Uplace project was mainly supported by the CD&V and N-VA and less by the sp-a. In May 2012, Ingrid Lieten said that it was 'incomprehensible' that Schauvliege gave the building permit. A low point was reached when coalition partner N-VA accused Minister Ingrid Lieten that she was not consequent in her decisions, as she lobbied for a huge mall in the small town of Beringen. In December, the sp-a said in an interview that they were 'content' that the Council of State rejected the permit. When it became known that N-VA and CD&V wanted to continue the project, the sp-a threatened, behind the scenes, to leave the coalition. Since then, the Uplace project was put on a hold.

References

Category:Shopping malls in Belgium