A bomb in the municipal council of Midden-Drenthe. Municipal interests expressed their confidence in councilor Jan Schipper (CDA) last night. But while Schipper received support from the rest of the council, Municipal Interests received the wind from the front.
Disproportionate, unreasonable and political for the stage. The reactions that Jannes Kerssies (Municipal Interests) receives after submitting the motion are not pleasant. Parties are annoyed by the opposition politician who, according to them, crossed a line. “Only when there is no longer any doubt about an alderman’s ability to continue, do you use this tool. But that is not the case here. This is not careful, this is not good governance,” said Arjan van Gelderen (Positief Vooruit).
Kerssies submitted the motion of no confidence because of the solar park tender. This is a kind of competition in which entrepreneurs can submit plans for solar parks in the municipality of Midden-Drenthe. The best plan is executed.
This competition previously caused political resentment surrounding plans for a solar park in Klatering. The council had designated a winner who would be allowed to build a solar park here, but there was discussion about a meadow bird area at that location. According to Alderman Schipper, the construction could continue as normal, but the council did not agree with this. A month and a half ago, a motion was submitted to temporarily suspend the entire competition until the Court of Auditors would rule on the matter.
Whether Schipper had actually put that tender ‘on hold’ was not clear prior to the council meeting. “We read that motion in such a way that we are not allowed to carry out any concrete work on the tender. But if an application is submitted by a developer, we must legally process it,” the councilor explained the developments.
The council is therefore faced with possible legal consequences. Schipper: “If we do not consider those applications, we will be in violation. We will come back to this once we have received legal advice.”
This answer was more than sufficient for the vast majority in the municipal council. But not for municipal interests. That party remained with serious shortcomings.
“We do not support a political difference of opinion that is presented as a matter of trust,” said Tineke Posthoorn (PvdA). GroenLinks agrees with this. Henk van der Beek: “We can actually only praise the councilor.”
“We hope that there will be a good investigation by the Court of Audit. If something turns out to be wrong, we will talk to each other again,” the Christian Union summarizes the debate. Arjen Schep (CDA): “It is a great pity that this was not anticipated. And that by the party with the most political experience.”
