L'URBANISME STEDENBOUW TOWN PLANNING - Ruimtelijke ...

pl A n n In g re g u l At Io n s
The Brussels Planning Code (CoBAT)
The Brussels Planning Code (generally known as the “CoBAT”) provides
the fundamental legal text for planning matters in Brussels. It was adopted
by the decree of 9 April 2004, (published in the Moniteur belge of 26 May
2004) and came into force on 5 June 2004.
It codified the four previously existing statutory instruments on spatial
planning in the Brussels-Capital Region:
The organic ordinance of 29 August 1991 on planning policy and urban
planning (OOPU)
The ordinance of 4 March 1993 on the conservation of the built
heritage
The ordinance of 18 July 2002 on the right of pre-emption
The ordinance of 18 December 2003 on the regeneration and re-use of
unused business sites
Since then, the code has been amended on several occasions.
The CoBAT establishes and governs the main planning mechanisms in the
Brussels region:
Planning policy (development plans, land use plans, compulsory
purchase, etc.)
Planning regulations (regional and municipal)
Planning permits and certificates, and permits for the division of a plot
(actions subject to permit, applications, competent authorities,
deadlines, special publicity measures , appeals, etc.)
The protection of the built heritage (classification, registration on the
protection list, inventory and register of the built heritage,
archaeological excavations, etc.)
Unused business sites
Pre-emption rights
Planning data and information
Infringments and penalties
66
Implementing measures
The CoBAT is supplemented by implementing measures adopted by the
Brussels government which establish its scope and enable its provisions
to be put into practice.
These concern the following:
Works “of minimal importance” (which are exempt from the
requirements for a permit, an opinion, or the intervention of an
architect)
Works exempt from the requirement to obtain an opinion from the fire
& emergency service (SIAMU)
Works of public utility which fall within the regional competence of the
official responsible
Bodies governed by public law whose permit applications fall within
the regional competence of the official responsible
Changes of use subject to planning permission
Planning permits of limited duration
Planning charges
The composition of the application dossier for planning permits,
planning certificates and plot division permits
Public enquiries and special publicity measures
Consultation committees
etc.
The CoBAT establishes a number of planning tools designed to govern and
codify urban and spatial planning:
n Development plans, PRD and PCD
n Land use plans, PRAS and PPAS
n Planning regulations, RRU and RCU
These tools exist at two levels:
n The regional level: regulations which cover the whole Brussels-
Capital Region
n The municipal level: regulations proper to each municipality.
67
pl A n n In g re g u l At Io n s