According to the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, the plan to expand the residential areas of Beilen towards Smalbroek and Alting is the only promising option for quickly creating more homes. Residents of the municipality were told this at a meeting this evening. But even before the investigation is completed, there is a threat of a lawsuit.
Until recently, residents in Alting and Smalbroek thought they were safe from large-scale housing development. After all, they live in a protected water extraction area, a quiet rural environment and a stream valley landscape with wet, irregular building land. But that is precisely where the municipality announced in September that it wanted to build new houses.
The municipality can do this via the Municipal Preferential Rights Act. The municipality then has the right to the first purchase if someone wants to get rid of his land or house over time. The plots now contain houses, stables and, among other things, a care farm.
A remedy that is not often used. So resident Hans Bos from Smalbroek wanted to find out more. He tried to get in touch with the municipality and later appealed to the Open Government Act (WOO). But the municipality of Midden-Drenthe did not reach the first and second terms. This ultimately led to a notice of default and a lawsuit is now underway. Bos: “We have not received an answer to our questions or substantiation since September.”
According to councilor Rieja Raven of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, the municipality could not immediately provide all the information. Speculators could then get in the way of the municipality, residents could ask the top price for their plot and the municipality would also buy time to conduct an investigation. “I understand that people feel overwhelmed and disappointed, because it is quite something: the WVG is on my house,” Raven explains. “But that WVG does not mean that people have to sell it now.”
According to Raven, the proposal still has to go through the council and the municipality has only just started the project. The exploratory research was presented this evening in the form of sketches and ideas, but the municipality does not yet know a lot. “We will now first investigate whether it is at all feasible to build housing in these areas.”
Even though the critical group of residents of Alting and Smalbroek has more information after the evening, many questions remain: “Why is the most serious tool immediately used?”, “What if we don’t sell, will we be expropriated? “, “Can you build in a stream valley?”, “Central Drenthe has a painful history with choices, are we next after Lievingerveld?”