QUATRE-BRAS FARM THREATENED !

I just heard from a journalist that the municipality of Genappe gave the OK for the destruction of the Quatre-Bras farm. I guess the new request was introduced very discreetly so that no-one could oppose to it.
It now must be approved by the Walloon region.
I suggestion we write to the Walloon Minister of Cultural Heritage.

rEASONS given by the ministry for refusinG to list the building - and our answer

Some people asked us why the Walloon minister of Heritage refused to list (even a part of) the farm -which is mentioned in the Inventary of the « Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique » (Monumental heritage of Belgium) (Tome 2 Province de Brabant Arrondissement de Nivelles Edition Ministère de la culture française, 1974, 624 pages, 325 illustrations, page 30) . This would have made it possible to save the essential part of it while enabling the development of the project. Moreover, one of the preambles of the refusal of the destruction of the building in 2011 was "Considérant que le bien est repris à l'inventaire du patrimoine monumental de la Belgique" "Considering the fact that the building is mentioned in the Monumental heritage of Belgium" All of a sudden, 5 years later, that doesn't count anymore !

The listing has been refused by the services of the ministry for the following reasons :
- The building - even if it dates from the 18th century ! - shows no special qualities, and there are already other farms of the same era in the region which are listed.

- The farm didn't play an important role in the battle. (sic) The experts said they based their opinion on the book written by Alain Arcq, Les Quatre-Bras, le second prélude à Waterloo, (dans la collection "Les batailles oubliées", Historic'One Editions, 2005). When I said that to the author of the book, he answered that, in that case, "they surely never had opened my book."

- There are already "too many Waterloo buidings" listed.
1) It is not a "Waterloo building", but a building of the battle of Quatre-Bras, and it was the very last buiding of that hamlet. Moreover, no other farm of that battle is listed.
2) There are not "too many buildings listed" and that protection is only partial. That doesn't prevent a listed buiding to be covered with flashy signs, even with giantinflatable bottles.
3) The fact that there are other listed buildings can not be an argument to refuse to list another buiding of the same worth, otherwise, where would that lead us to ? Buckingham palace is protected, so we can destroy Windsor Castle ? That is the kind of reasoning they had.

10 May 2014 : the enquiry is now closed. It is too late to write, but you can still sign our petition in support of the project of extension of the historically protected Waterloo battlefield : https://14388.lapetition.be/

Sign and share please ! Don't forget to confirm your signature by clicking on the (second ofr third) link in the e-mail that you will receive.

Results of the public enquiry : 112 letters were introduced – 110 against or with remarks, 2 in favour.

Again, this project aims at a complete destruction of the farm in order to build a shop and an elderly home.

Already in September 2008, in February 2011and in 2013, we appealed to many of you in order to save from destruction the historic Quatre-Bras farm, maybe the last witness of the famous battle of 16 June 1815 (two day before Waterloo). It is located at the crossroads of the roads from Namur to Nivelles and from Brussels to Charleroi, and also served as a hospital after the battle.

Our appeal met a great success and thanks to your massive response, the project was rejected and the authorization to destroy the historic farm turned down.

Now, again, the owner, a property developer, has introduced a new request to destroy the farm buildings in order to build a shop and an elderly home.

Again, we have to stand up against this project and express our disapproval of it. We already had some important support from the French side, but we desperately need British and Dutch (and other) support too! If some British and Dutch (Napoleonic or military) associations and museums would care to send a letter to the "Administration communale" of both towns, we are sure this could have some impact!

The farm being located at the border of two districts, the e-mails and/or letters of rejection have to be addressed to both municipalities:

- at Villers-la-Ville : by e-mail at olivier.vantielen@publilink.be and valerie.damanet@publilink.be, the two local officials in charge of the town planning at Villers-la-Ville. (If one of these addresses gives an error message, please try again, their mailbox has already been saturated once.)

BEFORE 9 MAY 2014 (after that date, it's too late). Don't forget to mention name, address and phone number, and also "Fait à... " "Done at"+ the place where you are and the date.

Here is an exemple of letter in French you can use, mentioning of course your name and address. You can take over the whole letter or just a part of it.

Thank you to inform us of any action or letter at dominique.timmermans@skynet.be, so that I can keep you informed of any development.

You can find some arguments in the letters (in English) I wrote last year for the ministers. DO NOT WRITE TO THESE MINISTERS NOW. The opposition MUST be send to the local authorities now.