The PRAS reserves public interest or public service facilities zones for buildings or installations that are used to carry out a mission of general or public interest, in particular local authority services, buildings housing parliamentary assemblies and their services, educational, cultural, sports, social, health, religious and secular facilities.

However, these areas can also be used for housing or commercial purposes, subject to special advertising measures.

Retail outlets must be the usual complement to community facilities, public services or housing (which have been authorised in advance).

The concept of a usual complement has not been defined by the PRAS, which does not include any indicative list of permitted shops.

In a decision dated 18 February 2013, the Conseil d'Etat ruled that ". A restaurant is the usual complement to a sports club, enabling it to accommodate sportsmen and women, as well as their supporters and families. In accordance with the PRAS, the restaurant, which is included in the central building and has panoramic windows so that visitors can watch the competitions in progress, confirms that it is ancillary to the main use of the site. ". (CE, n°222.539 of 18 February 2013)

The notion of complement should be understood to mean an activity that is ancillary to the main activity of community facilities, public services or housing.

The concept of customary implies that the complementary nature must be verified with regard to the generality of areas of the same type and not only in relation to the particular situation of the project site, as the Council recalled in a ruling no. 240.347 of 4 January 2018.

It should therefore be noted that, depending on the main activity, retail or hospitality may be justified on an ancillary basis.

Permit applicants must document the usual nature of their activity with the type of main activity on the site and ensure that their project reflects this complementarity on site.

Public amenity zones are therefore not monofunctional zones, but can accommodate other activities.

For further information, please contact Jean LAURENT (jean.laurent@cew-law.be), Partner, Public Law Department.