There will not be an asylum seekers’ center (AZC) in Heerle for the time being. A majority of the city council in Roosendaal voted against the proposal for a temporary location for the reception of three hundred refugees. The decision of Roosendaal politics preceded fierce protest from the residents in Heerle. The city council was also divided over the issue until the last.
In contrast to the information evening in Best, the municipal meeting in Roosendaal went without incidents. More than a hundred residents from Heerle followed the debate from the public gallery and on a large screen in the reception area. The extra boas present had a quiet evening.
After the proposal for an AZC with a narrow majority of two votes was rejected, the visitors jumped up in the public gallery. With loud shouts and applause, they showed their relief. Despite the small disturbance, Mayor Mark Buijs thought it was ‘admirable’ that the residents of Heerle had behaved in an exemplary way.
Vote
A proposal from the two largest opposition parties Roosendaalse List and Burger Belangen Roosendaal to come up with a new one and in their view at the end of September did not make it. The same applied to a motion of disapproval submitted by the parties because the Mayor and Aldermen would not have shared all information with the city council.
In majority, there was no criticism among the opponents about the usefulness and necessity of a refugee shelter, but especially about the intended location. The plot on the Bergsebaan between Roosendaal and Bergen op Zoom is sandwiched between the highway and a waste processing company.
According to the Spreading Act, the municipality must propose a location for a refugee shelter before 1 July. It is still unclear how the municipality of Roosendaal is dealing with this.