In Horn in Limburg it is about a tower that nobody seems to want: ‘This area is good as it is’

Where Valkenburg in South Limburg still mourns Wilhelminators who suddenly collapsed on an early Sunday morning, many residents of the Central Limburg Horn are shivering at the thought of a lookout tower of about eighty meters high. That Siebrandtoren may rise on the north side of their village.

The plan suddenly appeared, due to a permit application at Rijkwaterstaat. A somewhat dated looking Artist’s Impression Shows a red, metal colossus, through which the wind can blow from all sides. Horn is going to doubt the why of the structure. Entrepreneurs would like to start a hospitality release in the construction, the application shows.

“But it can’t be,” says Henk Luiten, treasurer of the Village Consultation Horn. “With coffee and pie in such a place, no gingerbread can be earned. Believe me, I have been in the hospitality industry for years.”

There is also no far -fetching need for a place where you can enjoy the look at Horn and the surrounding area. The village has a ninety -year -old church and Castle Horn, a at least a thousand year old ring wall castle.

Villagers fear that the watchtower is actually a harbinger of gravel extraction. “That has been above the market for decades,” says Tonny Hendriks, secretary of the village consultation.

Resists

Under the ground surface, rocks can be found that was carried by the Maas from northern France and Belgium. That lends itself to construction applications, for example as a gravel. To the east and south of Horn, previous and this century was already excavated about thirty square kilometers to win gravel. This is how the Maasplassen emerged, artificial lakes that originated because gravel holes were filled with water.

Thijs Metsemakers, spokesperson for Maasgrind BV, a consortium of so -called ‘hazardous’, admits that the company ‘develops a vision’ in the area near Horn. That is already a retention area (storage) in high water. “Nicking is not an end in itself, that must have social added value, such as nature development, recreation and protection against high water.” And that tries to incorporate Maasgrind into the vision according to Metsemakers.

With coffee and pie in such a place, no gingerbread can be earned

He understands that it may seem a bit strange that the idea for the tower is already coming out before the total plan. “That has to do with the new Policy rules Large rivers As of 1 February of this year, “he explains.” Requests for this are tested by Rijkswaterstaat against the old criteria. An important change as of 1 February is that from now on one set of rules applies to the entire river bed. This leads to a more reserved policy with regard to new spatial developments. ” In short, the rules of after February 1 are a lot stricter, so the tower would no longer be allowed. Rijkswaterstaat has granted the permit for the construction of the tower.

That the tower comes across a lot of resistance is not surprising. “Plans like this, for the rise, always evoke resistance. And this is the beginning of the process. What matters is that we will soon agree on the plans and the area left more beautiful and better than we found.”

Maasgrind bv knows that it is bouncing against an image. “The gravel sector traditionally had a” negative “image,” writes up maasgrind.nl. It himself believes that that image is not correct: “We are masters in the preservation of balance between the economic extraction of gravel, nature, recreation and flood safety.” Slogans on the site rhyme on gravel: “where it starts”, “how it connects”, “where you win” and “everyone in a good mood.”

Beets

Bart Nijskens lives and works on a farm on the outskirts of Horn. He has land in the area where the tower has to come. Crops are grown: potatoes, beets, corn. Real land consolidation was not forthcoming. The farmer shows a card, a jigsaw puzzle of dozens of plots. “Maasgrind is buying more and more,” says Nijskens.

He thinks building a tower is a bad idea. “Then you have to raise the soil. This happens in a retention area, so that soils have to be reduced elsewhere. If water runs to that lowest point, other places drove.”

According to Nijskens, unlawful is an even worse plan: “Everything and everyone gets extra land: housing, nature, the gravel farmers. But farmers have to hand in hectares. While this clay soil is very suitable for arable farming.”

Farmers

Together with the Horn Village Consultation, Together with the Heritage Association Bond Heemschut, the Stichting Behoud Leefmilieu Limburg and the Study Group Limburg, has already criticized the Leudal municipal council, which includes Horn. Some residents also did that in a personal title. They fear noise, dust and traffic nuisance, damage to the landscape and cracking in homes.

Castle lord Robert Magnée shares that fear. The tower is planned a few hundred meters from his castle, Horn castle, family property since the eighteenth century.

Everyone gets extra land: housing, nature, the gravel farmers. But farmers have to hand in hectares

Magnée expects the gravel extraction not to remain without consequences. “The canal sometimes falls dry, but this area is good as it is now. The farmers work there, the villagers take walks. Only dog ​​owners who do not clean up the droppings of their animals sometimes cause nuisance.”

In a committee meeting of the Council of Leudal, Alderman Pieke Houben of Enforcement and Hoogwater said on Tuesday evening that his municipality “will not cooperate in further excavations.” A permit application for the construction of the tower has not yet arrived at the municipality. Until the time comes, the alderman wants to abstain from an opinion on the structure. If the application does come “it will be tested against municipal policy, the environmental dialogue and the relevant spatial regulations”.

Group chairman Hilde Glessner of Progressive Agreement Leudal called the tower during the committee meeting ‘a ridiculous idea’.

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