QUATRE-BRAS FARM THREATENED !

QUATRE-BRAS FARM SERIOUSLY THREATENED WITH DESTRUCTION !

07/09/2008

Dear Friends,

Another witness of the Napoleonic era is about to disappear. I just heard that a request had been brought in for an authorisation to demolish the famous Quatre-Bras farm, at the crossroads of the roads from Namur to Nivelles and from Brussels to Charleroi, one of the last witnesses of the famous battle on the 16th of June 1815.

Here is a picture of the advertisement.

This would also lead to the destruction of commemorative plate below, which is on the southern wall.

It is not too late to intervene, but it is time, and well worth trying.

If some British Napoleonic association would care to send a lettre to the Communal Administration of Genappe, we are sure this could have some impact !

Send your remarks/questions/disapproval to the :

Collège communal,

Espace 2000 n° 3

1470 Genappe

Thank you to inform us of any action or letter at dominique.timmermans[a]skynet.be.

You can find the exact spot on GoogleEarth by looking for 50°34' 17.53 N et 4° 27'13.72 E.

18/09/08

Dear Friends,

First of all, many thanks !

Your reactions exceeded all our hopes!

Many Napoleonic associations and many personalities answered our call and indicated their concern for this historic building towards the local authorities.

I mention, more of less in chronological order :

- the A.C.M.N. (Association for the preservation of Napoleonic monuments) (through the President, Mr Robert Chénier, and many membres, among whom the webmaster of the website, who started this action)
- the Souvenir Napoléonien (through the President, Mr Ronald Zins)
- the Amis de Ligny (through the President, Colonel e.r. Pierre COUVREUR, and the Secretary general)
- the Amis de l'Empéri (through the President)
- the City of Fleurus
- the 'Associazione Napoleonica Italiana (to be confirmed)
- the A.P.N. (Friends of the Napoleonic Heritage)(through the President and the Secretary general)
- the Mexico-France Napoleonic Institute - Instituto Napoleónico México-Francia INMF - Asociación Histórica y Cultural (through the President Mr Eduardo Garzon-Sobrado).
- the International Napoleonic Society (INS) (through the President, the late Mr Ben Weider and the official delegate for France, Mr Jean-Claude Damamme)
and last but not least Lieutenant General Sir Peter Graham, KCB CBE, last Colonel The Gordon Highlanders.

We also received many reactions and letters of support from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Great-Britain, Switzerland, Spain, Germany and even Canada and Mexico !

07/11/08
What's the current situation ?

The Mayor and his deputies, as well as the local government technical official and the representative of the Ministry of the Walloon Region have rejected the request for destruction as brought in by the property developer.

Please find underneath the e-mail which has just been sent by the local council of Genappe.

« Re. : request for a single planning permission N° 2008/02

Demolition of a farm and building of an apartment complex and shops and running of a covered parking complex of 47 parking places and a propane storage of 50.000 litres.

Located at 1470 Baisy-Thy and 1495 Villers-La-Ville, at the corner of the rue du Dernier Patard 91 and the chaussée de Namur

Land Registry section M, n° 257h, 258m2, 260m, 260n, 258f2, 257g in Baisy-Thy and Land Registry section A, n° 35g and 35h in Villers-La-Ville.

Asked by : IMMO RPM SPRL

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sirs,

We inform you of the fact that the thing planning permission mentioned above has been refused by the local government technical official and by the representative of the Ministry of the Walloon Region on the 24th of October 2008.

A notice specifying the object of the decision and the methods of appeal will be displayed on the spot and at the town hall from 05 until 27 November 2008.

During this period, the requests and the decision can be consulted at the town planning department during working hours from 8h00 until 11h45 and on Thursday from 16h30 until 19h00.

Yours sincerely.

For the Town Planning Department
NN.

So this is an important positive point. We have won the first battle, but the war is far from over. We must stay alert and remain mobilised, because the property developer will surely bring in a new projet.

If you haven't done yet, you can still ask to be directly informed by giving your name, first name, address and e-mail address to the administration of Genappe, at following e-mail address info@genappe.be , asking to be informed of the evolution of the project.

The more people write, the more they’ll feel the importance of the matter.

I’ll try to pass there to have a look and see what is displayed.

Of course, we shall keep you informed of any development. Please let us know if your association or yourself do something. Thanks in advance.

Many thanks to Mr Yves Moerman, Eduardo Garzon-Sobrado, Robert Chénier and Bas de Groot for the information and the support they gave us.

Any question or information may be passed on to : dominique.timmermans[a]skynet.be .

You can discuss the matter here : http://www.napoleon-series.org/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=96815

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