If you say no, you get two. You could say that about the clever solution of the SP in Assen for the future open-air swimming pool in the provincial capital. After much splashing, splashing, and sputtering in Asser politics, a council majority voted in favor of further elaboration. And two scenarios.
There will be a detailed plan for a simple basic pool (5.5 million) and also for the extensive variant (9.3 million). The costs are 550,000 euros.
And that is 50,000 euros more than planned. SP and PvdA are guilty of this. They want a swimming pool, but preferably as cheaply as possible. They made a counter-proposal together. In addition to the extended version, also grab the cheapest version.
So the basic bath was back on the drawing board last night. And while the council focused on developing the extensive variant with possible locations and actual investment costs. But the development is done for both, so that in the second half of next year there is a choice of two. Otherwise it would simply have been ‘no’.
Without a second choice, the swimming pool adventure would have been over. College parties Assen Centraal and City Party PLOP have wanted such a pool for years. They opted for an extensive variant with dry eyes, despite 900,000 annual operating costs. CDA and Lijst de Rijke are joining them. But with only 14 of the 33 council seats, this is not enough for a majority.
PvdA and SP – together accounting for 4 seats – also grant Assen residents a swimming pool, but not at any price. They want fewer bells and whistles, with lower annual costs, namely 5.5 tonnes. Such a cost item suits Assen better, they think, given the financially dark years that threaten from 2026. Their support, and that of Lijst van Brakel (ex-SP), turned out to be indispensable in order to be able to continue with the swimming pool story.
And so Assen Centraal and PLOP bowed their knees. “Better to have some water with the wine, and also take the basic bath, than nothing,” they say. “And for the higher costs, it will be good to have two scenarios later,” says PLOP leader Henk Santing.
Coalition partners ChristenUnie and VVD have had a completely different position in the competition from the start. Especially with the financial disaster facing municipalities, they consider investing in a swimming pool ‘irresponsible’. Boosting the Baggelhuizerplas recreational lake to the tune of tons will be sufficient.
“A waste of money,” councilor Tjerk Medemblik of the Christian Union calls the 5.5 tons for the sequel. Who, like VVD, D66 and GroenLinks, does not believe in the usefulness and necessity of an open-air swimming pool, especially in times of impending budget cuts. And neither, given the risks for surrounding regional municipalities with swimming pools.
Councilor Martin Rasker (VVD) indicated that further elaboration of the two variants will not lead to different location studies. “Because if an extensive pool fits in a certain location, this certainly applies to a smaller pool. So we will at most come up with two locations, where both the simple and the extensive swimming pool fit.”
The detailed plan for both scenarios will be ready in the second half of next year. The council parties agreed in the administrative agreement that a decision had to be made during this administrative period about whether or not to have an open-air pool. Whether that is feasible is uncertain.