A vacant lot in Amstelveen had to be the solution for thousands of students who will be in a housing shortage in the coming years. The fact that that plan was scrapped today is not only a major blow to students, but also to the municipality, which has been working on the plan for years.
Joep van Dijk of Student Union SRVU finds it difficult to accept the decision. “We now have a shortage of 6700 student housing and that will triple,” he says about the fear that hangs over the students’ heads.
NH Nieuws takes a walk with Joep over the site where the houses should have been built. There is a dirty patch of green with fences around it and there is a half-demolished office building, the windows of which have been nailed shut. “Nobody works here anymore,” he exclaims desperately. “This could all come to an end.”
The student cannot think of a better location. “This is really the place where we had put our hopes for the coming years. If the shortage rises to 20,000 we have a very big problem,” he says.
‘Off the table’
The bogeyman in the story is the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. She approached the Council of State to prevent the construction of the 2,500 student residences and 1,500 short-term residences. According to the ministry, the plans concern an area that is not suitable for new homes due to noise caused by Schiphol.
Councilor Floor Gordon fought for the plan for years. According to her, careful consideration has been given to the clearly present aircraft noise, which is why flexible housing has been chosen. “We are very disappointed,” she said. “We have worked for many years with many parties on a very nice plan and that is now being pushed off the table.”
The students themselves don’t seem to mind living under an approach route from Schiphol. “They say: ‘we are not bothered so much by the noise of the planes'”, says Joep. “Then I don’t understand why you say: ‘yes, but we do think that it is a nuisance and therefore it is not allowed.’ Students only live here for two or three years,” he adds.
Noise disturbance
What frustrates him even more is that 3,500 students on the Uilenstede student campus across the street have been allowed to live close to Schiphol for years.
But according to the Council of State, the alderman should first have approached the minister to ask for permission to build in an area where construction is prohibited due to aircraft nuisance. “So the ball is in The Hague”, Gordon sighs. But there is hardly any hope that action will be taken there in time.
Meanwhile, the municipality is stuck with an area that, according to Gordon, is ‘impoverished’. “It is getting worse every day, so we will have to come to a solution together, but this ruling leaves little room for us as a municipality to take control,” concludes the alderman.