The municipality of Eindhoven has been ruled against by the court regarding the failure to implement a skating ban at the Piazza shopping centre. The municipality must provide better reasons for the decision or implement a ban.
The owner of the shopping centre went to court because the municipality saw no reason to impose a skating ban in the shopping centre. According to the judge, however, the owner has done a good job documenting that the skaters cause unsafe situations and damage furniture in the shopping centre.
The municipality of Eindhoven did not want to agree to this and said that the small number of nuisance reports about skaters does not justify a ban, and that municipal supervisors had not observed any unsafe situations caused by skaters.
Justification
The owner does not agree and points out that the supervisors only come to look at the shopping centre every now and then. The judge finds that the municipality’s argument that freedom of movement is more important than possible nuisance from skaters is not sufficiently substantiated.
The municipality of Eindhoven must therefore better substantiate its refusal to introduce a ban, or a ban must be imposed after all, according to the judge.
Whether a skating ban will actually come into effect remains to be seen. The city council has previously spoken out clearly against a skating ban at the Piazza and the Catharinakerk, the city government actually advocated for it. The city council emphasises the importance of young people coming together and moving.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by Yawar Abbas
