Belgium

Outsider De Panne

De Panne is a maverick. The westernmost seaside resort on the coast does not know the concept of beach bars. That doesn't mean there is no catering on the beach. Local restaurants and cafes operate as many as 25 beach terraces there, linked to their business, where some 4,000 people can put their feet in the sand at the same time.

The infrastructure around this leads to additional pressure on the beach. The non-profit organization Protect Trees and Nature is challenging the environmental permit for "the planché" before the Council for Permit Disputes. That is a kilometer-long removable concrete path across the beach. The planché leads visitors through the dike to beach terraces and beach rentals.

"Surely it should be possible for a local government to install removable structures year-round," said Mayor Bram Degrieck. "I don't think local government initiatives should be crippled by other governments."

The Agency for Nature and Forests advises unfavorably. Protect Trees and Nature argues that the tranquility of the beach with its biotic elements will be disturbed. In addition, the organization fears damage to natural values and the valuable ecosystem.

On the question of adjusting restrictions around surface area, Degrieck says he is realistic. "I don't think we should set high expectations," he says. He also points to the Coastal Vision, a plan by the Flemish government to protect the coast from rising sea levels beyond 2050.

"The Coastal Vision launches slopes to widen dikes and proposes the dune-by-dike principle." The latter means that the beach will no longer be reclaimed and laid flat so that natural vegetation can retain sand.

With the dune-by-dike principle, a stretch of exploitable beach is likely to be lost. "The possibilities for redevelopment of sea dikes will probably become wider. It will therefore be more important to align the PRUP with the new Flemish regulatory framework."

Less

With that last caveat in mind, the nature and environmental movement is just now asking for fewer opportunities for beach operations. There appears to be no support anymore for some parts of the ten-year-old PRUP. This is the case, for example, for a derogation to allow operations in areas of the Flemish Ecological Network (VEN) such as in Bredene.

Because the beach remains a good buffer against storm surges, beaches are replenished annually (replenishment) with sand from the sea. This cost the taxpayer 18.5 million euros last year. "Suppletions are not only a story of coastal protection, but are also requested in function of more space on the beaches for tourism," notes Bart Vanwildemeersch of the West Flanders Environmental Federation.

He points to a principle of the PRUP. Article 8 says that the morphology of the beach must be taken into account in the layout. Structural relief changes are only allowed in the context of sea defense. "Surely this is at odds with the leveling of our beaches, the mechanical cleaning of beaches, the construction of cabins at dune footings that are sometimes even excavated, or the licensing of a concrete path on the beach against the advice of an administration," says Vanwildemeersch.

"Now there is too much reasoning from a tourist commercial point of view. We certainly want to recognize the tourist value of the coast, but the approach now is skewed and no longer in the public interest. The PRUP should have kept that balance."

According to Vanwildemeersch, we need to evolve toward natural beaches and let recreation fit in there. "Bruges is trying to manage its Zeebrugge beach more naturally, with an eye for recreational opportunities. They noticed that people hang out at the level of a dike, right by the water or in the newly constructed dunes."

"The recreationist clearly does not find an open beach plain attractive enough. The approach in Zeebrugge does show that recreational co-use can be installed under the dune-by-dike principle. That does require overarching management and also enforcement, which is lacking now."

It remains to be seen what the province will do. For now, the initiative was limited to a roundtable discussion. This showed that there is no consensus among the mayors. Among others, Wilfried Vandaele (N-VA), mayor in De Haan, previously expressed criticism of further relaxations.

Thijs Descamps, chief of cabinet of West Flanders deputy Sabien Lahaye-Battheu (Open Vld), does formulate a reservation on the demand for relaxation. "It is not because there would be a revision that by definition more would be allowed. Given the ever-tightening legislation, you might end up with a different outcome at the end than what you set out for."