The VVD in Hoogeveen believes that the construction of the new Nijstad-Oost district is taking too long. The houses will soon have to run on hydrogen, but preparing them will take too long, the party believes. The faction will submit a motion during the council meeting on Thursday to look beyond just hydrogen. This would make construction faster. A majority of the council agrees with this.
Municipal interests, the CDA and the SGP, among others, already support the VVD motion. The houses in Nijstad-Oost will switch off gas completely and must use hydrogen. “The connection has already been postponed several times,” the motion states. That is why the VVD calls on the municipal council to look at other forms of energy, such as electricity.
The VVD believes that despite the housing shortage, Hoogeveen has not yet been able to build additional houses. The faction believes that a major step can be taken with Nijstad-Oost and believes that progress should be made. According to the party, more than 750,000 euros have been invested and 5,000 hours worked on the plans.
“And that in the knowledge that preparing for hydrogen is far from finished.” That is why the party requests that Nijstad-Oost continue to be developed sustainably, but as quickly as possible. “In concrete terms, this means that we will look beyond hydrogen and shift our focus to building homes.”
It recently became clear that the conversion from natural gas to hydrogen in Nijstad-Oost has been postponed. The Netherlands Authority for Markets and Consumers (ACM) has not yet given its approval. The ACM ensures that the conversion from natural gas to hydrogen is properly arranged in terms of safety. They also check whether the consumer is well protected. That process is taking longer than expected, the municipality said.
The existing Erflanden district is located on the other side of Nijstad-Oost. The houses in that neighborhood must be converted to switch from natural gas to hydrogen. Last summer, twelve homes were scheduled to undergo that process. That was not successful, because the ACM has not yet given permission for this project.
In the Erflanden district, all 427 homes had to switch to hydrogen. Due to high energy prices, this is no longer feasible and there is only a budget for a hundred houses. At the end of November, the municipality expects the ACM to give permission so that the plans in the Erflanden and Nijstad-Oost can go ahead.