Nuisance, traffic, depreciation of houses and poor communication. In a document of 86 sides, the municipality of Hoogeveen waps itself against the criticism of the plan for a labor migrant complex.
The complex of initiators and project developers SVZ and E&A Wonen must come to the former site of the Graanfabriek along the Dr. Anton Philipsstraat. Local residents and companies in the area have not been tender for some time about that idea.
During the permit application last year, opponents eagerly made use to respond. All questions ended up at Hoogeveen and a recent letter can be read that the municipality is trying to give a suitable answer to dozens of questions.
In any case, worried local residents think it is too big a plan. It would not fit in the neighborhood and the fear is that there will be noise and nuisance 24 hours a day. The situation is compared to that of a large nightclub.
They also state that the employees will not really have a connection with the neighborhood and will therefore fall out of the tune. An increase in traffic is lurking, they think, and their privacy will disappear because the building will increase and will get a lot of windows.
The municipality responds that local residents will not notice much of the workers. “Since employees are a lot at the company itself to work and in particular rest on the location of the Graanfabriek”, the letter can be read.
According to Hoogeveen, research shows that there is hardly any nuisance in other large -scale comparable projects in the Netherlands. There would be a strict social control among employees to control each other.
“Nuisance from international employees is not given,” the municipality adds. “Good housing ensures the prevention of any nuisance.” For example, managers would also be present 24 hours a day and there will be rules to maintain.
Hoogeveen understands that the temporary guests have no connection with the neighborhood. “That is not necessarily necessary either.” The location is on the De Wieken industrial estate and is not part of a neighborhood, the reaction is. They live there for a maximum of six months, the defense continues.
And in terms of privacy? That has been tested according to the rules, says the municipality. The building is a considerable distance from local residents. For example, the first home in the area would be 52 meters away. With regard to windows, the Code would use a minimum distance of 2 meters. “There is sufficient distance.”
But the neighborhood is more bothering. Because what happens to the value of their home? Can any loss can be stored somewhere? What about traffic, because the roads in the environments are used by motorists, cyclists and students.
Hoogeveen says that a request for compensation can be submitted. That the roads will be confirmed to be confirmed by the municipality, but that should not cause any problems, because the road network can handle it.
Companies don’t see the arrival of a large complex. According to them, an industrial estate is not a place to absorb labor migrants and industrial sites must remain available to industry.
The municipality says it is to confirm those worries, but is also struggling with the problem to find suitable places for labor migrants. They are being used more and more often, the location of the former grain factory would be a solution.
In terms of communication, there is still a few things to improve, the local residents think. For example, they say they are not involved enough in the plans. Hoogeveen says that the initiator of the plans regularly holds meetings. It would also have been suggested to start a local consultation group. That didn’t work yet.
Whether all responses remove the worries from local residents and the companies must still be apparent. Halfway through April the city council will talk even further about the file. Then it must be apparent how they view the plans.