Social life in Putte is under great pressure due to an invasion of Belgians. More and more southern neighbors are buying a house in the Dutch part of the border village because it is easier to get a mortgage here, but they do not integrate.
“We don’t hate Belgians, but they don’t participate in anything. Their social life takes place entirely in their motherland a few hundred meters away, while the associations here are empty,” sighs a resident of Putte.
There is a unique situation in Putte. The village with 3838 inhabitants is located in both the Netherlands and Belgium. The border runs straight through the village. Figures from the municipality of Woensdrecht show that 512 Belgians came to live in the Dutch part in the past five years. This means that one third of the village now has Belgian nationality.
“Children go to school on the other side of the border.”
Frank Roeken of the village council in Putte finds the rapid increase in the number of southern neighbors ‘worrying’. As an example of this, he mentions the situation surrounding the local primary school Op Dreef.
“The majority of Belgian children in our village go to school on the other side of the border. As a result, there are only about a hundred students at our school, while the school in Belgisch Putte is almost bursting at the seams with almost six hundred students,” Frank explains.
Dutch Putte is particularly popular among Flemish couples under the age of 35. “You can easily speak of a tsunami of Belgians,” says real estate agent Jan-Kees Vader. According to him, about eighty percent of houses up to three or four tons are now sold to our southern neighbors. The Netherlands is attractive for young Flemish families because there are less strict rules for a mortgage here.
According to Dutch residents of Putten, the atmosphere in the village has changed. “Belgians are really not bad, but they are often very closed and to themselves. I find it difficult that they don’t greet me back. So at a certain point I didn’t say anything anymore,” says a Dutch woman who prefers not to be mentioned by name.
“It is high time to turn the tide.”
The limited involvement of Belgians in Putse society was also evident during the last municipal council elections. Despite an urgent appeal from the municipality, only a handful of Belgian residents exercised their right to vote in the Netherlands.
According to party chairman John Mathijssen of Alle Kernen Troef, it is high time to turn the tide. We want to prevent the division from becoming even greater. “As local politicians, we will therefore have to think about a solution to this problem.”
A start to the solution may be the reopening of café De Snooker in Putte. The business was closed for more than two years, but a group of friends recently revived the pub. According to co-initiator Gino Boer, it is a bull’s eye.
“There is again a place where residents can meet each other. We are full every weekend with both Dutch and Belgians. Young and old come here. We can sit around and whine, but we have to hold hands with each other.”
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