The sailing season is just around the corner and the residents of various houseboats in the Ringvaart are therefore preparing for the nuisance associated with sailing pleasure. People can tear across the water undisturbed and with impunity, and residents who want to make a report come across authorities pointing at each other.
According to houseboat dwellers, boats with a rotten course sail past with rife. “Our boat will then bounce, causing plants, equipment and, for example, paintings to come down,” says one of them.
Anneke Tiemersma from Vijfhuizen also knows all about this: “In the high season 9 out of 10 boats pass by. At that moment we really feel our boat go up and down half a meter. We have suffered damage as a result and it seems only a matter of time until the pipes fail,” said Tiemersma.
From pillar to post
The residents are fed up with the nuisance, but when they want to report it, they come across an official wall of authorities (read: municipality, police, province and water board) pointing at each other. An answer is often not forthcoming.
The cause seems to be that the authorities themselves do not know where residents can go, according to questions asked by NH Nieuws in recent weeks.
“Boats sailing at high speeds on the Ringvaart can be reported to the Province”, a spokesperson for the Rijnland Water Board said. But the province refers us: “Nuisance from boats is the same as nuisance in public space. So it seems to me to be a matter for the police,” says Harriët Wijker, spokesman for the province. According to a spokesperson for the municipality, the water police is also responsible for the Ringvaart.
‘Maintaining is not actually doing’
The police generally confirm that they are on the water ‘at regular intervals’: “But it is of course not the case that we can keep an eye on the Ringvaart every day. We have to divide our scarce capacity. That is why we also monitor with partners such as water boards and municipalities on the water,” said a spokesperson for the Noord-Holland Police to NH Nieuws.
But as is known, the Rijnland Water Board refers again to the province. In addition, the municipality does not have a boat and the police in Haarlemmermeer also have no means to be present on the water. “Enforcement is therefore not really a thing,” said an officer of the Haarlemmermeer police in a mutual conversation on Facebook.
“It is a little too easy to point to the police or municipalities. The province must take its role”
That is why the municipality of Haarlemmermeer has sought cooperation with neighboring municipality Aalsmeer: ”Because we connect to the Ringvaart because of the Westeinderplassen, there are cross-cutting problems. It was therefore recently decided that Aalsmeer enforcers on the water may also enter the Ringvaart. It only concerns the area. between Leimuiderbrug and Nieuwe Meer,” says Bart Schmidt, head of public order and safety at the municipality of Aalsmeer.
Report via the website
According to him, the province must ensure that the municipality of Haarlemmermeer gets a boat. “It is a bit too easy to point to the police or municipalities. The province must take its role,” said Schmidt.
While no one takes responsibility, the houseboat residents in the Ringvaart are preparing for the summer. Nuisance can be reported according to a spokesperson for the municipality of Haarlemmermeer via the website†
Houseboat residents disappointed
The residents of houseboats in Vijfhuizen are disappointed: “It is regrettable that authorities continue to point at each other, without one of them feeling responsible and taking its responsibility. We already know this via the website. You will never hear from them again. one of them says. “Hardvaarders have free rein in this way on the Ringvaart.”
Anneke Tiemersma says: “I have the impression that there is not a good agreement between the parties mentioned, I don’t think they know for sure where it belongs. If that is not clear, you cannot make it clear to people that reporting can take place. Checking on the Ringvaart rarely and almost never happens on busy sunny days when the boats pass one after the other,” she concludes.