Municipalities must draw up new odor policy. The odor nuisance and livestock farming is outdated, and there must be new plans that adhere to the new guidelines of the Environment Act. That is nice for many people from Brabant, because that means that odor nuisance will not grow further in the future. Yet it remains difficult to help houses that are already in the stink at the moment.
According to the Southeast Brabant Environment Agency, the guidelines of the new Environment Act offer ‘no more instruments for reducing existing odor loads’.
If you live between several stables, you will get scent around your house from multiple sources. In the old legislation, this accumulation of Geudruitstoot, the so -called background load, was not mentioned. When granting a permit, the applicant’s emissions were only considered, causing thousands of people from Brabant to live in the odor.
This accumulation is named in the Environment Act. Every municipality is free to draw up its odor policy itself, but must take this into account. The gestation of Geuruit must also be under the 19.4 OU standard. Fragrance is measured in so -called ‘odeur units’, or ou. Everything above that limit has been declared ‘unacceptable’ by the court in The Hague.
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Good news of course, because that makes fewer people in the stink. The municipality of Land van Cuijk, where, just like in Deurne, many pig farmers are active, presented a first version of the new odor policy in December. This is still based on the old odor legislation, but is monitored during the year. One of the principles of that policy is a odor standard of 2 ou in the cores and a standard of 8 OU for the outlying area.
“Look for a different place for your homes.”
That new standard is well below the 19.4 OU border. Good news for people from Brabant who want to buy a new -build home. “Before homes are being built, it is determined what the odor level is to prevent people from living in a place that is overloaded,” says a policy officer from the municipality of Land van Cuijk. “We don’t want that, and that has now been pronounced by the city council. That is reason to say to an applicant, “look for a different place for your homes.”
The other side of the coin is that it only applies to houses that still have to be built. Residents of the municipality who live in the outlying area will remain in the stink for the time being.
According to research by consultancy firm Pouderoyen Tonnaer, there are currently 16,000 people from Brabant in an area with an odor nuisance of more than 10 OU, or, above the standard that Land van Cuijk has currently determined.
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The municipality emphasizes that they are aware of situations like this. “We have a past in Land van Cuijk, and it shows that there are a number of situations that you think ‘this is not good’,” says the policy officer.
“With new policy you immediately wonder how the past is. That is why we are developing an approach. For that we look at all the possibilities that there are, in order to fill a toolbox. ”
The employee does not yet dare to say what that toolbox will look like. “But the approach to overloaded existing situations will be more often in the news in the coming year and also in decision -making.”