Alderman Assen: ‘Decision on TT Museum subsidy before April 1’

taketonews

The municipality of Assen will decide before April 1 at the latest on financial support for the new TT Museum in the city. This is what cultural councilor Bert Jan ten Oever of the PLOP city party says. Months ago, 1 million was requested by the TT Museum Foundation. They also want 1 million from the province of Drenthe and they still hope for money from the TT Circuit.

According to chairman Sandra Hoekman of the TT Museum Foundation, time is ‘really running out’, with the celebration of the centenary of TT in June 2025. “The longer it all takes, the smaller the chance that we will be able to show something beautiful on Brinkstraat at that historic moment.”

According to Hoekman, the aim is to achieve something in the anniversary year. “We ensure that there is something to do at the location. It would be great if we could have the big TT press conference come from there.”

Last September, the museum board went to city hall with an ambitious design plan. Costs are 2.7 million euros, including purchase of the property. For that money, the former Diana disco on Brinkstraat must be transformed into ‘three floors with a complete TT experience’. The hundred-year history of the motorcycle spectacle is presented in images and sound, there are motorcycles, you can tinker as a mechanic, race against each other on a mini race track, and experience the TT campsite and the TT Festival. The TT Circuit will also play a prominent role.

Councilor Ten Oever said that a decision on the subsidy would be made before Christmas. But a decision is more complicated than expected. In the mayor and aldermen – with PLOP, Assen Centraal, ChristenUnie, VVD and SP – they have been ‘arm wrestling’ for months. And that also concerns other investments worth millions, such as a roof on the velodrome and an open-air swimming pool. They put the coalition on edge, but everything happens completely behind the scenes, and no one opens their mouth about it.

For example, a roof over the velodrome with a sports campus costs 9 million. The plan was presented in March last year. What followed was deathly silence. And the council has still not come up with a concrete proposal for covering the cycling track. Sports councilor Albert Smit (Assen Central) in particular wants that roof on, but coalition partner PLOP doesn’t want it.

Also, some parties, especially Assen Centraal and PLOP, finally want an open-air swimming pool, for which there have been plans for more than a year. The cheapest variant costs 5.5 million euros, the most luxurious 17 million. Further investigation will follow, but that open-air pool is also gnawing at the foundations of the college.

The TT Museum is in between. The PLOP faction wants the TT Museum to finally be built and to earn support. But sports councilor Smit does not like it that the same PLOP interferes with the cycling track.

Secretary Ruud Wiersema of the TT Museum, who also happens to be party chairman of the City Party PLOP, does not believe that the museum plan should be the victim of ‘a battle within the council’. “That million for the TT Museum is a one-off. An open-air pool and cycling track will soon cost the municipality money annually. You cannot compare those things with our museum.”

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