From a dilapidated industrial estate to a bustling urban area where people can shop, live and learn. That is the vision of the municipality of Coevorden for the Holwert-Midden industrial estate, which lies against the historic center of the city.
“Holwert-Midden doesn’t look good, it hasn’t for years, development in this area is necessary and this proposal can do that,” says council member Irma Talens of the VVD. “Just putting a new school in the area is not enough. Sooner or later it has to be addressed, so we better do it right away.”
The first step is the construction of the new secondary school De Nieuwe Veste. In December 2021, the city council signed an agreement for the plan and the new school should be there in 2025.
4.36 million euros are needed for the purchase of the buildings, demolition and soil remediation before the new building of the Nieuwe Veste can be built.
With the construction of De Nieuwe Veste, the industrial area will be given an urban destination. This means that houses can be built on Holwert-Midden at a later stage. There will even be room for a green zone with trees and a canal park.
For the plots that are important for the intended area development, the municipality already wants to buy land, demolish buildings and the soil must also be remediated there. The second part of the amount, 3.5 million euros, is intended for this purpose.
This concerns land belonging to landowners of a plot on which the Municipalities Preferential Rights Act (WVG) is established. This is land on Holwert-Midden where the municipality has the first right to purchase a plot.
Then there is land on Holwert-Midden that does not fall within the WVG and where the municipality therefore does not have the first right of purchase. But the land is of strategic importance for the further vision of Holwert-Midden. Some landowners have approached the municipality for sale. The municipality has earmarked 1.7 million for the purchase of these pieces of land.
According to alderman Jeroen Huizing, this is “neighbor’s land that you only get the chance to use once.” Moreover, there is a permit on that basis where heavier industry may take place than is currently the case.
“It would not be useful to allow heavier industry near new houses and a new school,” says the alderman. This could happen if the land were sold to a company that wanted it. “And we shouldn’t want that.”