250, 350 or 500: How many refugees will Tynaarlo take care of?

There were also many questions from society. For example, the municipality received 63 letters with responses and opinions to the municipal plans. Many of them find 500 refugees too much. They point to the National Spreading Act, which obliges the municipality to include fewer asylum seekers.

And also during the debate in the city council, the Spreading Act was mentioned a lot. According to the current Spreading Act, the municipality of Tynaarlo should take care of 224 asylum seekers. Next year that number will probably grow to 312.

Mayor Marcel Thijsen indicated that he does not want to go along with these minimum numbers. But he looked critically at the numbers again. Five hundred places is a buffer according to the mayor, he wants to take care of 350 asylum seekers. But if it is really necessary, it can be extended to a maximum of 500.

“An AZC will have a place for 5 to 10 years. If we have to reduce one, you need another place where the refugees can go. It is important to say that there will not be 500 in one place.”

According to him, the Spreading Act is also too uncertain because the quantities are constantly changing. “If we now assume those numbers, the location when he opens, so to speak, is all too small as soon as the law changes,” said Mayor Thijsen.

The fact that the Spreading Act is uncertain is also appointed by councilor Marcel Elzerman of Leefbaar Tynaarlo. “It is not easy to comply with the Hague policy. First the law would be withdrawn, then that was withdrawn and it is already being spoken to withdraw the withdrawal, withdrawing.”

The party likes the idea of ​​the Spreading Act (fairly distributing). Leefbaar Tynaarlo also wants to listen more to the concerns of residents. That is why the party wants to come up with a proposal to adjust the municipality’s plan. “We are still looking at the specific number with other parties, but the starting point is: the Spreading Act Plus Buffer. So 312 and then maybe five or ten percent will be added. So not 350 with a buffer to 500,” says Elzerman.

In the city council, some parties wonder whether the opposition can be heard, because, for example, all seven speakers were against the asylum plans of the municipality. According to the mayor, a maximum of 500 is supported by the majority of inhabitants. Even in politics, there was rather support for this number. For example, during an earlier vote, the proposal for 500 asylum seekers in the municipality was adopted.

The big question is where the refugees will be taken care of. The asylum seekers are distributed at several locations, at least in Eelde-Paterswolde, Zuidlaren and Vries. But the specific places are not yet clear, that is a next step.

An independent agency will investigate what the best places are. The municipality wants to talk to the local residents of the locations, as soon as more is known and not for that.

Councilor Els Kardol (D66) wonders at the meeting what happens when the agency comes with fifteen locations, but residents themselves come up with a sixteenth place that the agency does not have in the picture. Mayor Thijsen: “The place must be objectively weighing, so close to a bus, easy to facilities. Then integration is possible, not from the forests. With that in mind a 16th, 17th or 18th place is very welcome. We want to control the heart, not from dogmas.”

Although opinions about refugees are sometimes far apart, the mayor is happy with the way the debate is conducted. “I have not seen the foaming citizen. Of course the debate is polarized nationwide, but if you look at how respectfully the residents deal with the municipal administration, and hopefully hopefully, there is no question of polarization in Tynaarlo.”

The city council will continue to talk about the plans in the meeting of April 1.