WRITTEN QUESTION E-1236/97 by Paul Lannoye (V) to the Commission (8 April 1997)

Subject: The building of a sorting centre for household waste at Havré in the region of Mons-Borinage-Centre (under Objective 1 - Hainaut, Axis 2)

ITRADEC (a body covering several administrative areas in Belgium) has submitted an application for a subsidy under the Objective 1 programme for the Hainaut region to build a sorting centre for household waste which would, at a later stage, incorporate a biomethanation plant for the treatment of organic waste. The site chosen for the sorting centre is in a non-industrial area designated under a local development plan and is, moreover, an environmentally-sensitive area (the permeable water-table of the cretaceous basin around Mons).

The Directorate-General for Land Planning in the Walloon Regional Authority considers that a sorting centre of this kind with a biomethanation plant should not, in principle, be built in a non-industrial area under the development plan. An exception to this rule might be granted provided that the incidence study could give all the necessary guarantees to the local authorities and the local inhabitants that the plan would not be detrimental to the environment or the landscape.

The incidence study for the project in question shows explicitly that, from an urban planning perspective, building the centre on the Havré site is not the most appropriate solution and that it would constitute an eyesore. Moreover, the area forms a buffer zone between the houses and the motorway.

The Walloon Environmental Council for Sustainable Development, which is required to deliver an opinion as part of the impact assessment procedure, agrees with these conclusions and considers that a suitable alternative would be to build the centre in the industrial area of Ghlin-Baudour (where two plots of land, consisting of 359 and 439 hectares respectively, are available), particularly as a biomethanation unit is to be added to the initial plant.

Does the Commission share the views of the Wallon Environmental Council and does it intend to take the necessary steps to encourage the building of the sorting centre in the industrial area of Ghlin-Baudour?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1236/97 and E-1237/97 given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (2 May 1997)

In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the competent national and regional authorities are responsible for implementing the operational programmes part-financed by the Structural Funds and, consequently, the measures decided on in that context. In addition, the project in question is subject to the rules in the single programming document (SPD) for Hainault ((Decision C(94)1450 (Article 2c) of the Commission, 14.6.1994. )), which provide in particular for compliance with the rules on the environment.

Available information, in particular concerning the assessment of the environmental effects of the project in question, does not show any infringement of Community law.

The issues raised should therefore be dealt with by the Walloon authorities, as regards both the location of the sorting centre and the feasibility studies to be carried out.