Flanders opens a public inquiry into the Poort West-Limburg…

The Flemish Government approved the starting note and the process note of the regional spatial implementation plan (GRUP) “Poort West-Limburg” on October 30, 2026, for which the public consultation opens on November 17, 2026. The official notice, published in the Belgian Official Gazette on November 10, 2026 (p. 59934, reference C − 2026/008201), specifies that the planned project covers the territory of Beringen and Tessenderlo-Ham.

A regional plan on the scale of two municipalities

The procedure falls under the Departement Omgeving of the Flemish authority, which manages regional spatial implementation plans and centralizes the documents put under inquiry. The starting note and the process note can be consulted from November 17, 2026, to January 15, 2027, on the department’s dedicated website, where the public can also find an audio explanation and the registration form for participation events.

The same system was recently used for other regional plans, for example the GRUP “Leidingstrook Opwijk-Lievegem,” whose starting note was subject to consultation from October 13 to December 11, 2026 (reference C − 2026/007184, Belgian Official Gazette of October 5, 2026, p. 52967).

Three physical consultation points

The file is available for reading, by appointment, at the following locations:

Tessenderlo-Ham: Omgeving service, town hall, Markt 15A, 3980 Tessenderlo-Ham, by telephone at 013 39 44 40 or via planning@tessenderlo-ham.be.
Beringen: Bouwen service, city hall, Collegestraat 1, 3580 Beringen, by telephone at 011 43 03 63 or via ruimtelijkeordening@beringen.be.
Departement Omgeving, Herman Teirlinckgebouw, Havenlaan 88, 1000 Brussels.

Information fair on December 3 in Beverlo

A participation event is organized in the form of an information fair:

Date: December 3, 2026.
Time: continuously from 5 PM to 8 PM.
Location: De Kardijk community center, Burgemeester Heymansplein 14, 3581 Beverlo.
Content: presentation of the starting note and questions for the plan’s authors.
Prior registration: online, via the Departement Omgeving website.

Respond by January 15, 2027

Observations and suggestions must be submitted no later than Friday, January 15, 2027, through two channels:

Via the website grups.omgeving.vlaanderen.be/r/poort-west-limburg.
By mail, delivered against acknowledgment of receipt to the concerned municipalities at the aforementioned addresses, or sent to Departement Omgeving, Koning Albert II-laan 15, box 550, 1210 Brussels.

The notice does not set specific material content for the plan: it is limited to announcing the approval of the two notes and the opening of the consultation in the territory of Beringen and Tessenderlo-Ham.

What changes for local residents

Public consultation constitutes the first formal window for intervention in the development of the plan: the feedback collected during these two months informs the rest of the procedure prior to the drafting of the draft plan and the subsequent inquiry stages. For the residents, entrepreneurs, and associations of the two municipalities, the deadline of January 15, 2027, and the session on December 3, 2026, in Beverlo are the two key dates to remember, as no other opportunities for participation are announced in the notice.

Official source: Belgian Official Gazette (Moniteur belge) No. 256 of November 10, 2026, p. 59934, reference C − 2026/008201, “Aankondiging raadpleging bevolking – GRUP “Poort West-Limburg””, Flemish Government, Environment.