20-year environmental permit granted to Tomorrowland
The province of Antwerp has granted an environmental permit to dance festival Tomorrowland that is good for 20 years, an unprecedented move in Flanders
Sound levels and sewers
Antwerp province has approved a 20-year environmental permit for the summer dance festival Tomorrowland. The permit ensures that the festival cannot be moved for environmental reasons from the De Schorre recreational domain in Boom for at least two decades.
Previously, environmental permits for the festival, which attracts more than 180,000 revellers every year, were granted on a year-to-year basis by the Boom city council. In the light of the festival’s extension this year to two weekends and the ensuing complaints filed by residents of the town, the festival and city council found it a good idea to secure a long-term provincial permit. Tomorrowland is the first festival in Flanders to receive such a long-term permit.
The permit, granted after advice from the Flemish Environmental Agency and environmental organisation Natuur en Bos, covers such concerns as sewage, electric generators, the use of fireworks and noise levels. An independent expert will be present to test and advise on noise levels for the duration of the festival.
photo: Gert Cools/Gazet van Antwerpen
About the author
Lisa Bradshaw is the editor-in-chief of Flanders Today. She worked as an editor and journalist in her homeland, the United States, before moving to the awesome city of Ghent in 2004. If she’s not in the office, she’s probably at a film festival.
