Roeland Hup, interim chairman of the center management of Coevorden, resigns after a disagreement with the municipal project leader about the center renewal of the fortified city.
Hup confirms to RTV Drenthe that it is a ‘difference of opinion’ with municipal employee Gert van der Kooi. He declined to comment further. He has now announced his resignation by letter to the other board members and the municipality itself.
Hup: “Tonight I have a meeting with the rest of the board of the center management. We will discuss this issue in detail.” Until then, Hup will not make any statements. “Perhaps I will embarrass people. It is further up to the board to determine whether they will announce the outcome of our consultation tonight.”
Hup also says that there is no way back as far as he is concerned. “It’s fixed for me.” Hup also fulfills the role of chairman of the Coevorder Trade Association. He will remain in that role, he says when asked.
The center renewal in Coevorden is being carried out under the title Kasteelpark, a plan that the city council approved in 2019. With this, Coevorden wants to make the transition from a shopping city to a visitor city, with an emphasis on the experience and history of the old fortified city. The plan consists of tackling the Market, the Port, the Citadel Point and the Orphanage Meadow.
The Market must become a kind of living room for the people of Coevorde, while a few new buildings (including a market hall) must be built at the Haven and the Citadelpunt and the Weeshuisweide will become green. The aim is to make the city center more attractive to visitors in this way. In total, an amount of 8.4 million is involved.
For the implementation of the plans it was necessary to remove a large number of parking spaces in the city centre. During one of the city council meetings in 2021, Hup spoke out against this in his role as chairman of the Coevorder Trade Association. The corona crisis had overtaken the planned refurbishment of the center of Coevorden, he argued at the time. Removing the parking spaces would be counterproductive and, in his view, should be reconsidered.
Center manager Edwin Boomstra has been asked for a response, but he could not be reached for comment.
The municipality of Coevorden says it is ‘surprised’ by the situation, a spokesperson reports. “We will talk to the general board of Coevorden center management in the very short term.”