McDonald's has filed a permit application to open a restaurant in Retie (a small municipality in the Kempen region of northern Belgium), its latest attempt to expand in an area where similar bids have already been rejected in three other towns. Local residents have expressed widespread concern on social media, and the acting mayor, Koen Claessens, noted that the planned site falls within a zone the municipality has earmarked for small-scale, locally oriented businesses. Residents will have one month from August to lodge formal objections, though authorities stress these must be based on environmental factors such as traffic impact rather than personal views on the chain itself.