Belgian Pro League football club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (RUSG) has temporarily put plans for a new stadium “on hold” due to a lack of municipal support.
RUSG currently plays at the 8,000-capacity Stade Joseph Marien, but the club’s success in recent years has led to renewed assessment of its stadium situation.
The Stade Joseph Marien is deemed unsuitable for RUSG’s ambitions. The stadium does not meet UEFA standards and RUSG has been forced to play European matches at the homes of Anderlecht and OH Leuven.
The Stade Joseph Marien is located in Duden Park in Brussels’ Forest municipality. The park is a classified site, rendering expansion of the stadium’s capacity to 15,000 impossible.
In April, Ans Persoons, Brussels Secretary of State for Urban Planning and Heritage, effectively ruled out a renovation of the stadium and said that attention must turn to discussions for a new venue in a different location.
RUSG had previously teamed up with its chief architect Brussels Bouwmeester/Maître Architecte (BMA) to launch a design competition for a proposed new stadium. These plans had been expected to accelerate following Persoons’ comments earlier this year, but a lack of progress has forced the club to put any new project on hold.
The club had been hoping to submit a planning application for a new stadium in Forest by the middle of this year. RUSG has now said that it has met all the necessary conditions, but it has yet to receive the required backing from the local government.
“Unfortunately, we have to note that the cooperation promised by the municipality is still awaited,” RUSG said in a statement reported by Belgian news outlet RTL.
The club noted that it has carried out studies on a mobility plan and the potential environmental impact of a new stadium, and claims to have met all the requirements set out by the Forest municipality.
The statement added: “However, we note that the municipal college has decided not to submit this new draft agreement to the vote of the municipal council. We must unfortunately conclude that there is no will to respect the promises made and to find a solution within the current administration.
“It is becoming clear that no solution can be found with the current municipal administration. The plans are therefore put on ice. The club hopes that common sense will prevail after the municipal elections.”
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