LC 00020

Main outcome

Specific products:

• A Vision and Action Plan with specific spatial adaptation measures for the flood prone area of Ninove-Zuid is being developed (still in progress)
• Awareness-raising brochure ‘Water zonder overlast’, was produced and is continuously distributed (both for flood prone citizens and the wider community).
• The incorporation of flood risk / water issues into neighbourhood information networks could take place in the upcoming months. However, it is entirely dependent on the head of the police department’s willingness.

Process results:

• Public actors were engaged in a participatory process, such as the participation of the Flemish Waterways; this is seen as an additional outcome indicating a change in the public working methods.

Outcomes related to actors

Public actors

• The main accomplishment was to engage the public actors of Ninove into a participation process. This engagement was rather problematic and difficult. Time was needed to evolve the actors’ perception and passive stance into a more interestingly willing approach. A real collaboration was set in February 2019 with the new alderman of spatial planning and environment have officially stated his interest in collaborating in the project, the departments of mobility and public works as well as the sewer manager and the social housing company showing positive participations. The collaboration will lead at least the development of a Vision Plan for the whole flooding area of the centre of Ninove and at best to an action Plan with specific measures.
• An interesting achievement is the participation of the Flemish Waterways. This public actor, responsible of the navigable river management, was not well acquainted with participative procedures, presenting in the past a high reluctance and scepticism to follow this kind of process. The Flemish Waterways were involved in the participation process of Ninove. 

Citizens

• 5 community resilience workshops were delivered. The workshops in the fire brigade office and the café ’De Belleman’ were very effective with a high presence and active participation of the inhabitants. One workshop, in Okegem, did not result an active participation and had essentially
• Awareness-raising brochure ‘Water zonder overlast’, was produced and is continuously distributed (both for flood prone citizens and the wider community).
• The preparedness manual is in progress, it is made by flood-prone citizens for newcomers to the area, in cooperation with the fire brigade.
• The incorporation of flood risk / water issues into neighbourhood information networks could take place in the upcoming months. However, it is entirely dependent on the head of the police department’s willingness.

Referenties

• Aquafin, Aquafin, 25 juni 2019.
• Adaptive planning for flood resilient areas: dealing with complexity in decision-making about multilayered flood risk management, Buijs, J-M., Boelens, L., Bormann, H., Restemeyer, B., Terpstra, T., HZ University of Applied Sciences, 1 januari 2018.
• Evaluation of the Belgian FRAMES pilots, Goosse, T. and Luuk Boelens, Centre for Mobility and Spatial Planning (AMRP) of Ghent University, 21 april 2020.
• Analysing and evaluating flood risk governance in Belgium, Mees, H., Suykens, C., Beyers, J-C., Crabbé, A., Delvaux, B., Deketelaere, K., 31 maart 2016.