‘Problems like in a big city’, so this mayor pleads for government money

Medium-sized cities must also receive structural funding to tackle priority areas. Mayor Margo Mulder of Bergen op Zoom makes this call. According to her, Bergen op Zoom is struggling with metropolitan problems, but the city is missing out on the National Liveability and Safety Program. In our province, Roosendaal, Breda, Eindhoven and Tilburg currently receive structural money from this national fund.

“The new cabinet has promised to continue the National Program in the coming years. As fifty medium-sized cities, which also includes Bergen op Zoom, we are deploying a strong lobby to be heard in The Hague. After all, many more people live in these places than in the neighborhoods of the National Program,” says Mulder.

The National Liveability and Safety Program (NPLV) is a long-term program by the government to make twenty so-called focus neighborhoods in the Netherlands better and safer. Problems such as poverty, unemployment, poor housing and crime often occur in these city neighborhoods. The government wants to offer municipalities the opportunity to tackle these problems with extra money, so that residents can live more pleasantly and safely.

Why Gageldonk and Warande should receive money from the government
According to Mayor Mulder, the districts of Gageldonk and Warande in Bergen op Zoom should be eligible for participation in the National Program. Despite significant investments in improving homes, residents still indicate that they do not always feel safe in their neighborhood. There is, among other things, drug nuisance, vandalism, speeding cars and explosions due to heavy fireworks.

Behind the visible nuisance there are often broader social problems, such as poverty, a low average life expectancy and a lack of prospects for some young people. According to Mayor Mulder, this requires more than just enforcement.

“We have projects such as Prevention with Authority, with which we help young people get started with training or a job. We only receive half a million euros per year for this. Even worse is that the program simply stops after 3.5 years. To be honest, this is not of much use to us. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but this hand money is too little for a structural approach in the long term,” says the mayor.

The neighboring municipality of Roosendaal will receive tens of millions through various schemes within the National Liveability and Safety Program over a period of twenty years for tackling five focus neighborhoods. Mulder: “No, I’m not jealous. We have good contacts and excellent cooperation. We can learn from them, because they have been working on tackling the neighborhoods here for a few years.”

The municipality cannot pay for the structural approach out of its own pocket
According to Mayor Mulder, medium-sized cities cannot accommodate the problem within the municipal budget. “Certainly not in our municipality, where the average income is already lower. Moreover, financially we are just a bit ‘above Jan’ here again. No, this can only be achieved with structural resources from the government. And don’t forget that what you invest on the prevention side ultimately yields a lot at the bottom line.”

She continues: “The National Program is intended as a pilot for disadvantaged neighborhoods throughout the Netherlands. If the approach was to learn from it, I would like to see this learning effect translated to other cities. We should also be given the opportunity to continue neighborhood initiatives in the neighborhoods in the long term, instead of having to let them fall out of our hands every time.”

“I believe that a young person in Bergen op Zoom or Oosterhout has just as much right to benefit from the National Program as a peer in Roosendaal. That is really close to my heart.”