The battle for healthcare provision at ‘t Ruige Veld continues. The owners of the healthcare estate in Rolde and the Phusis healthcare institution are taking the municipality of Aa and Hunze to court. They demand that the ban on expanding night shelters be immediately withdrawn. But the municipality refuses that. This afternoon they will face each other in court.
In December, the Council of State ruled in favor of the owners of ‘t Ruige Veld in their fight against a ban on 24-hour childcare. The parties have been fighting about this for five years.
The municipality of Aa en Hunze no longer wants a group of 24 care clients to live on the site day and night. The Phusis Foundation guides these residents with their problems and provides daytime activities. But according to the municipality there is a nuisance. That is why she adjusted the zoning plan for the area, and night shelters were abolished.
But according to the Council of State, that is the wrong path, as was the judgment on December 11. If there is nuisance, Aa and Hunze must suppress it in a different way, for example through enforcement and not through the zoning plan.
But in the meantime, the Municipal Executive – behind closed doors and supported by the council – also quickly put a stop to further expansion of night shelter for healthcare clients. This means that the area has been ‘locked down’. The owners of ‘t Ruige Veld and healthcare institution Phusis believe that this decision should be canceled as quickly as possible. Especially now that the highest court overturned the ban on night shelters last December.
“The offering of night care is permitted without restriction from this ruling. This would allow Phusis to immediately place those in need of care who need night care,” said the lawyers on behalf of ‘t Ruige Veld and Phusis.
According to the parties, plans for concrete expansion of the care areas have been ready for some time. The buildings have been renovated for many hundreds of thousands of euros. “And Phusis’s waiting list contains more than eighty people in need of care,” say the lawyers of ‘t Ruige Veld and Phusis.
According to them, ‘t Ruige Veld has been used as a care area for many years, with all kinds of care provision. Phusis night care fits in seamlessly with this. The parties do not understand that Aa en Hunze has done everything it can in recent years to remove care there, while there is a great need for suitable care places for people with adjustment and addiction problems.
They believe that the municipal council of Aa and Hunze is ‘unlawfully’ preventing the expansion of night care. But the mayor and aldermen refuse to withdraw the decision, despite losing the case at the Council of State in December. That is why both parties will meet again in court this afternoon.
Day and night care at ‘t Ruige Veld has been the subject of five years of mutual legal proceedings. Aa and Hunze want to get rid of it after bad experiences with a healthcare institution that has not yet been officially certified. That was the now bankrupt Altijd Zorg foundation. The mayor didn’t have it all together, according to the mayor, and that created dangerous situations, according to him.
Phusis took over the care at the time. And the owners have renovated the care pavilions for many hundreds of euros. They threaten a claim for damages of no less than 6.5 million euros if the municipality permanently removes the healthcare designation. They bought the site when day and night care was still permitted according to the zoning plan.