The reception of 50 asylum seekers at the Johannes Poststraat in Hoorn continues. Despite the submitted motion of sadness and a motion to renounce the shelter. Although the VVD left the coalition earlier this week, there appeared to be no majority within the municipal council to challenge the council’s decision through a motion.
The decision that the council took last week to 50 asylum reception places at Johannes Poststraat 71, was met with much indignation in the municipal council. In the wake of the decision, the VVD councilor left Marjon van der Ven and the VVD faction left from the coalition.
Critics argue that the process was not transparent enough. This dissatisfaction was fueled by a previously signed agreement between the COA and Mayor Jan Nieuwenburg, which stated that the municipal council had to agree with the decision regarding the 50 shelter places.
Last month’s committee and council meeting discussed 100 shelter places. The compromise that was subsequently presented therefore aroused suspicion among both council members and concerned residents. It was suspected that the original plan all along was to end up with 50 locations.
Council decision or college decision?
During the extra requested council meeting, the focus was on the fact that the original agreement from January explicitly stated that the municipal council had to agree to the decision, and not the mayor and aldermen alone. The opposition therefore approached Mayor Jan Nieuwenburg critically on this point.
He defended himself by referring to a newly signed administrative agreement, which would nullify the old one. However, it was only after the suspension that it became apparent that this replacement document had only been signed yesterday.
According to the council, the document is secret and can only be viewed by council members. This is in contrast to the old document, which has been made public. In the new agreement, approval from the council is no longer a condition precedent, but approval from the mayor and aldermen is sufficient.
De Vries-Droste faction
The motion to cancel the reception location on Johannes Poststraat just missed out on a majority on Thursday evening. The votes of the recently formed Fraction De Vries-Droste, consisting of Norbert de Vries and Rob Droste, turned out to be the decisive factor. The faction voted against the motion and thus helped the council gain a majority. This is in contrast to their former parties, VVD and Fractie Tonnaer, who did support the motion.