During the last municipal council in Zwalm, opposition councilor Matthijs Verschraegen (Open Vld) proposed a communication charter for road works.
What did this mean?
Introduction and motivation
“As a result of the road works in Moldergem and this one, even more recently, in Stationsstraat, several local residents expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of communication.
With regard to the road works on Moldergem, a decision would have been taken in the autumn to stop paving the sides. Communication about this too late only increased the dissatisfaction. Certainly when it turned out that in various places, according to some random, there was (re)paving. On the one hand, the local government’s maximum commitment to softening can be encouraged. On the other hand, we must be aware that this was communicated in the opposite direction to the residents at the only residents’ meeting in 2020. Also, after a questioning by myself at the city council on September 24, 2020 (approx. 02:19:00), the affirmative answer to this that existing pavement would be respected (with the nuance that one uniform pavement would be chosen, ie cobblestones).
A good week ago, road works started in the Stationsstraat. The street was interrupted for two full days (then another interruption followed, last Thursday). Only five days before the work started, residents and local traders were informed of the planned activities. There was also a lot of, rightly, displeasure here.
The faction of Open VLD Zwalm wants to contribute constructively to a solution to organize such communication more smoothly in the future, and above all earlier.
We realize that it is not always easy to organize this communication process. We are all human and things can go wrong sometimes. Nevertheless, we hope with the communication charter below to provide an impetus to organize communication about road works more smoothly and, above all, faster in the future.
I see this charter rather as a form of soft law, not as something coercive to which the college of aldermen is nailed. Hence the wording “as far as possible”. After all, it is not possible to respond quickly in all cases. When we strive to follow the charter as closely as possible, faulty and late communication in the future can be avoided as much as possible.
Decision
Article 1. – The municipal council authorizes the College of Mayor and Aldermen to implement a communication charter regarding road works in the public domain within the municipality of Zwalm.
Article 2. – The communication charter contains, as a minimum, the following requirements:
- 1 Road works in the public domain lasting longer than three weeks
In the event of road works in the public domain lasting longer than three weeks, the College of Mayor and Aldermen organizes, as far as possible, a meeting of residents and traders within the municipality one month prior to the planned start of the works. affected site area where they are invited to a thorough explanation of the road works.
The residents and traders of the affected site zone are invited to this meeting on the basis of a personal invitation sent or delivered to their postal address.
The grievances of the residents and traders of the affected site area are listened to and a concise report is drawn up in which these grievances are subsequently taken into account, as far as possible.
The residents of the municipality of Zwalm will be informed of the proposed road works, as far as possible, at least one month before the planned start of the works via the following communication channels:
- A message via the social media channels of the municipality of Zwalm;
- A message via the municipal app; and,
- A message in De Zwalmse Post.
In the event that the planned planning of the road works is deviated from, both in terms of timing and execution, the residents and traders will be informed in good time. This by means of a personal letter sent or delivered to their postal address. This clearly communicates that residents and traders have the opportunity to communicate their grievances regarding the deviations to the municipality.
In the event of a deviation in timing, this letter will be written to the extent possible, as soon as possible after the deviation in timing has been notified to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
In the event of deviations in implementation, this letter will be sent to the extent possible, at least two weeks before the decision on the deviation is made.
The grievances of the residents and traders of the affected site area are listened to and a concise report is drawn up in which these grievances are subsequently taken into account, as far as possible.
In the event of a deviation from the timing, the municipality of Zwalm will inform residents of the municipality of the deviations as soon as possible, via the following communication channels:
- A message via the social media channels of the municipality of Zwalm;
- A message via the municipal app; and,
- A message in De Zwalmse Post.
- 2 Road works in the public domain that make a street at least partially inaccessible to through traffic for more than one day
In the case of road works in the public domain that make a street at least partially inaccessible to through traffic for more than one day, the affected residents and traders will be notified, as far as possible, one month prior to the planned start of the works on the informed of these works by means of a personal invitation sent or delivered to their postal address.
The residents of the municipality of Zwalm will be informed of the proposed road works, as far as possible, at least two weeks before the planned start of the works via the following communication channels:
- A message via the social media channels of the municipality of Zwalm;
- A message via the municipal app; and,
- A message in De Zwalmse Post.
Article 3. – The College of Mayor and Aldermen submits the adopted proposal for a communication charter regarding road works in the public domain to the traffic committee for advice.
After the advice of the traffic committee has been obtained, the communication charter regarding road works in the public domain will be submitted to the city council for a vote.”
The majority of Zwalm says that a lot is already being communicated – proposal is not realistic
Alderman Peter Van Den Haute (N-VA): “We have explained what we have already done in terms of communication (Facebook, App, notes that are posted, …)
We also presented the proposal to our administration, which assessed it as “unrealistic, impracticable.”
Mayor Bruno Tuybens added:
In any case, our municipal administration argued strongly against this proposal. The bottom line is that such a charter gives little added value to the communication department, which already uses every medium.
Every yard is different, so should this charter always be adapted to changing circumstances? In this way we could be more concerned with ourselves than with the work itself. That is not what the citizen asks. And certainly not every time the new residents’ meeting.”
