The flower auction in Eelde closes its doors. Royal FloraHolland has chosen to stop work completely as of June next year. The 70 employees will lose their jobs.
“We have actually seen in recent years that purchasing power is decreasing, the number of florists in the region is decreasing and that actually means that there is less demand at these locations,” says Sander van Pijkeren of Flora Holland. “We have tried to take measures in recent years and unfortunately we have come to the conclusion that it is not financially responsible to stay open here longer.”
The mayor of Tynaarlo speaks of a great loss and stopping the auction in Eelde has consequences for other entrepreneurs in the region. Florists therefore have to look for another place to purchase. And growers also have to look elsewhere.
“We saw that it was decreasing step by step, but I did not expect this,” says grower Gerrit Bazuin. “It’s a sad story, but we have to move on and this also brings challenges and opportunities and that’s what we’re going for. I don’t know what the future will bring.”
The municipality of Assen wants to buy a former office building on the Lauwers to keep it as a reception location for Ukrainian refugees. The building has been in use since 2022 and about 240 Ukrainians live in it. The purchase would cost a total of around three million euros.
We have been working on rewetting the Geelbroek area for ten years. The work is done, but not everyone is happy with it. Farmers fear that their agricultural land is also becoming wetter. There is a lawsuit against the permit for the project, but the area will nevertheless look very different.
Forest ranger Vincent de Lenne of Staatsbosbeheer: “Then you have a landscape like this and then you see a group of trees here and there, a few loose shrubs. I think that if you stand here in ten years’ time, the landscape will look very different, but that will happen very gradually.”
Young people increasingly end up in the emergency department with serious lung complaints. Almost all Dutch hospitals are conducting a 24-hour investigation into the effect this has on acute care. One of the hospitals participating is the Scheper Hospital in Emmen.
“You see that there will be a lot more smoking again, but in different ways, so vaping, but also sniffing,” says emergency physician Christien Slotboom from Treant. “It is certainly increasing among young people. It no longer smells like cigarettes. But those other substances pose even more danger and that is not well known in the Netherlands.”
Autumn is in full swing, the days are getting shorter and it gets dark early. And so your bike must be in tip-top condition. In Hoogeveen, the bicycles of international students from the Roelof van Echten College are therefore checked and, where necessary, repaired.