Four schools and a sports hall in Emmer-Compascuum will be demolished, and housing may be built in its place. The municipality of Emmen is investigating whether new construction is possible.
It is certain that the village will get a brand new child center and sports hall. Both buildings will be finalized this month. The completion does mean the end of five buildings in the peat village itself. Both buildings will be taken into use after the summer.
The new child center will house several schools: De Meent and De Runde (which will continue together as a merger school De Meende), De Braakhekke and De Triangel (merged into De Braakhekke) and De Hoeksteen. The pre-schools of the Toddler Work Foundation and De Veldwachter childcare will also be given a place there. In total, excluding pre-school, there are 245 children.
Both the old buildings of De Braakhekke, De Runde, De Meent, De Hoeksteen and the ‘old’ Klabbe aan de Creel are waiting for the demolition hammer. De Braakhekke has now been sold to housing corporation Lefier, which is still considering future plans for this location.
“We are looking at whether housing is possible at these locations, but no concrete agreements have yet been made about this,” a spokesperson said. “If there are no plans at the time of demolition, then there will be grass first.”
In addition, the municipality plans to take the expansion plan Maatschappijweg-Koppelweg OZ out of the fridge. The plots from the previous phase have all been built on or sold, representing 40 to 50 homes.
The second phase was scrapped in 2018. As a result of the housing crisis in previous years, there was little or no interest in the location. The dormant plan with space for 32 homes at the time was therefore scrapped by the municipality. But that is now being returned to.
“This is indeed a location that we have planned to develop this year,” said a spokesperson. “The exact details regarding the number of homes and more concrete planning are not yet known at this time.”
Village chairman Gerard Gustin is very happy with this latest development. Because the village council has insisted on this step, he says. “The first phase is completely full and the plots still available have been empty for years.”
According to him, the plan still offers space for a maximum of 40 homes. “Especially starters and young people from the village benefit from this. In the current housing market, they are hardly offered any opportunities. This initiative should turn that tide.”