Next year, Breda will build 29 new pitches at seven existing caravan parks. A big step forward, says the municipality itself. And there is also cautious optimism in the caravan community. “Finally something is happening,” responds Bart Hülters of the Woonwagenbelangen Breda Foundation. “But first see and then believe.”
The municipality is allocating extra money in the 2026 budget to address the shortage of caravan pitches that has existed for years. The new locations will be located at Korte Raamstraat, Rijnauwenstraat, Edisonstraat, Hamdijk, Emerweg, Jacob Catssingel and Boterbloemstraat in Prinsenbeek. According to the municipality, each location has been carefully examined to determine what is possible spatially and ecologically. The first environmental permit has even already been applied for.
Councilor Arjen van Drunen (Residential) is happy that the time has finally come. “We are taking a new path with our caravan policy,” he says. “This expansion helps us to give caravan residents a place where they really feel at home.”
Fellow councilor Jeroen Bruijns (Grondbedrijf) also calls it a necessary step:
“We not only create more places, but do so in a careful manner. In this way we make the city more social and future-proof.”
“All kinds of things have been promised for years.”
There is relief and cautious optimism at the Woonwagenbelangen Breda Foundation, but no confidence yet. Bart Hülters calls the expansion ‘a great start’, but according to him the municipality of Breda still has a lot to prove.
“All kinds of things have been promised for years, but not a single new place has been added yet,” he says. “Let them first show that they are really going to do it. That they are really going to start, because I am afraid that if there are objections from local residents, everything will not go ahead. So that they can say: but we tried it anyway. First see and then believe.”
This suspicion can be explained, because there are some things going on in the background and Bart Hülters himself is behind the net. The camp where his family lives will not be expanded. “After years, I still have no prospect of a place,” he sighs.
“We will continue to litigate, because it is simply not right how this happened.”
To this end, a series of proceedings by the caravan residents are still underway before the Council of State and the judiciary against the municipality of Breda. This includes unlawful decision-making, accusations of discrimination by the council and possible fraudulent actions surrounding a piece of undeveloped land next to the caravan park of Hülters’ parents in Beemden in The Hague.
Social rental apartments will now be built on that site, which according to residents was ideal for additional pitches next to the existing camp.
According to Hülters, the issue is far from over. “We will continue to litigate, because it is simply not right how this happened,” he concludes. “That piece of land should have been given pitches. Now something completely different is coming while we have been waiting for years. The municipality itself admits in council meetings that mistakes have been made. Now this must also be stated in black and white.”