Spa Council to Vote on Popular Consultation Over City Hall Relocation
The municipal council of Spa, the historic thermal town in Belgium’s Walloon region, is meeting Thursday evening to vote on whether to organize a popular consultation about potentially relocating the city’s town hall. The decision follows a citizen petition that gathered 2,832 signatures — of which 2,650 were officially validated — calling for residents to have their say on the future of the historic building, according to RTBF.
The petition, launched in April 2026, asks a direct question: “Are you in favor of keeping Spa’s City Hall and its municipal administration at its current location?” It was formally submitted to the city’s Director General in early July, with the number of validated signatures comfortably exceeding the threshold required under Walloon law to trigger a popular consultation.
A Long-Simmering Debate
The question of relocating the town hall is not new. For several years, municipal authorities have floated various alternative sites, including the buildings of the former “Britannique” boarding school and, more recently, the Villa Royale on Avenue Reine Astrid, which currently houses the Spa Museum. In February 2025, the majority coalition’s Declaration of Communal Policy identified the Villa Royale as the preferred option, as L’Avenir reported at the time.
The Villa Royale option has deep roots. First Echevine Alda Greoli (Les Engagés/Pluriel!), a former Walloon minister, argues the building was purchased by the city in the 1960s specifically with the intention of eventually making it the town hall. “What building has both the prestige to host a city hall of a city listed as UNESCO World Heritage? It’s the Villa Royale!” she told RTBF in November 2025, adding that the ideal for Spa citizens would be to find all municipal services in one space.
Spa was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in July 2021 as part of the transnational “Great Spas of Europe” listing, which recognizes the significance of European spa towns from the 18th to early 20th centuries, as RTBF reported.
Opposition and Citizen Resistance
Opposition councilor Frank Gazzard of the Alternative Plus group, one of the petition’s initiators, argues that the current city hall is a heritage landmark that residents hold dear. “For us, the City Hall is a landmark located in a neighborhood that forms an ensemble with the Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand,” he told RTBF. “It is well situated near the hypercenter. It is also, and above all, a heritage building common to all residents of Spa.”
Gazzard and his group also raise concerns about the cost of such a move and argue that the Villa Royale, located at the entrance of the city, should retain its museum vocation. They contend that municipal and CPAS (social services) administration could be merged remotely without a physical relocation.
The issue first came to the council floor in November 2025, when Alternative Plus proposed a vote on keeping the city hall at its current location and independent councilor Paul Mordan requested a popular consultation. At the time, Mayor Nicolas Tefnin (MR-UC) called the debate “premature,” as L’Avenir reported. The current majority, formed after the October 2024 municipal elections, brought together Tefnin’s MR-UC list with Greoli’s Pluriel! coalition, leaving Alternative Plus in opposition.
A Test of Local Democracy
The July petition submission was widely covered, with both L’Avenir and DHnet reporting on the 2,832 signatures handed to the city administration. Despite this strong citizen mobilization, reports suggest the majority is expected to reject the consultation request at tonight’s meeting.
Gazzard, who has been vocal about the stakes, warned that a negative response “would be humanly and democratically very hard from the majority.” He noted that “it hasn’t happened often in Wallonia that a popular consultation is refused when it has been requested in proper form and has followed all legal requirements.”
The outcome of tonight’s vote will determine whether residents of this UNESCO-listed town get a direct say on an issue that touches both their municipal heritage and the future organization of local services. Beyond Spa, the decision could set a precedent for how Walloon municipalities balance citizen participation with administrative modernization — and whether properly validated petitions can be set aside by political majorities.
What to Watch For
If the council approves the consultation, residents would likely vote in the coming months on whether to keep the town hall at its current location. If it is rejected, the question of the town hall’s future — and the democratic legitimacy of the decision-making process — is likely to remain a contentious issue in Spa politics for the remainder of the current mandate.