Developers who want to build 2500 student residences on a vacant lot in the Amstelveen district of Kronenburg want to keep the subject on the national political agenda. Therefore in a letter to all national political groups, they asked to include the subject in their election program for the parliamentary elections in November.
Developers Zadelhoff Beheer, Maarsen Groep and student housing provider DUWO want to build the new homes right next to the existing student campus Uilenstede, but have not been given the green light for a long time. Kronenburg is located under a flight path from Schiphol and the noise produced by the aircraft would be unhealthy for the students.
Last July, the developers had to deal with yet another disappointment when outgoing Minister of Housing Hugo de Jonge and outgoing Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harbers decided that the plan should not go ahead.
This time, the developers asked a top official to make a proposal for a plan to make the student campus possible after the Council of State had ruled it out. The top civil servant pleaded to implement the plan in phases, but the outgoing ministers did not think that was a good idea.
“The shortage in Amsterdam is expected to rise to 16,000 homes in the coming years”
“After numerous previous obstacles, the outgoing ministers have thus again raised a hurdle for the necessary development of the student housing at the Kronenburg location in Amstelveen”, the developers write in the letter to all political parties.
In the letter, they once again explain why they think the new student campus really needs to be built. “The national shortage of student housing is now 26,500 units […] In Amsterdam there is a room shortage among students of 6,600 units, which is expected to increase further to 16,000 in the coming years.” They base these figures on data from the Kenniscentrum Studenthuisvesting.
“We and thousands of current and future students in the Netherlands will be grateful to you”
The developers urge the parties to dedicate a passage in their election program to Kronenburg. “We and thousands of current and future students in the Netherlands will be grateful to you,” they conclude the letter.
Community response
The municipality of Amstelveen, which approved the arrival of the student campus years ago, has decided not to sign the letter. “We think so
as a municipal council, it is not our job to make a similar appeal to political parties
parties to do for the benefit of their election programs,” the municipal executive writes in a letter to the council. “However, we can well imagine that local factions of national political parties in the municipal council would like to reinforce this call through their own party line. We’ll leave that to you.”