After Council of State rebuke, Knokke-Heist resets every beach bar award, leaving operators in the dark

The Knokke-Heist municipal executive on Thursday withdrew the award of all beach concessions for the 2027-2035 period. All candidates received an email from the municipality that morning, VRT NWS reports. The decision of 28 August 2026 thus lapses for the four zones of Heist, Duinbergen, Knokke and Het Zoute: 25 concessions in all, 24 beach bars and a children's play park. De Tijd and La Libre also report on the move.

A week earlier, the Council of State had suspended the award in three zones, Duinbergen, Knokke and Het Zoute, following complaints from operators who missed out on a concession. They challenged the way the jury had selected candidates. According to the Council, the municipality had not sufficiently checked whether some candidates could actually pay the exceptionally high concession fees they offered. In addition, the designs were said not to comply with planning rules, and the Council had doubts about the long term of nine years, renewable once. After its analysis, the municipality concluded that the award could not stand and withdrew all of it, including in Heist, where no suspension applied.

With less than five months to go before the beach bars have to be rebuilt, no operator knows whether they will be allowed to open next season. One operator calls the situation a disgrace in comments to VRT NWS and complains about the lack of information. How the municipality intends to award the concessions again is not yet known. According to La Libre, the executive will only communicate once a new decision has been taken. Opposition councillor Antoine Geerinckx (Gemeentebelangen) accuses the majority of Mayor Cathy Coudyzer (N-VA) of starting the procedure too late and then rushing it.