The decline of the center in Vries is irreversible, thinks VVD councilor Gezinus Pieters. Tonight the Tynaarlo city council discussed a letter about the so-called ‘Vries action agenda’.
This action agenda must show how the North Drenthe village can become a vibrant center with space for, among other things, catering and sufficient shops, but also for more ‘social cohesion’.
For this purpose, a citizens’ forum will also be established that reflects the entire Vriezer population, such as entrepreneurs, young people and members of Volksvermaken Vries.
Despite all those good intentions, VVD councilor Pieters thinks that an unstoppable development is taking place in Vries. “The number of inhabitants remains the same, the number of homes is even increasing, but the range of shops is decreasing. Two more shops will soon disappear from the village.”
“If we think we can turn that tide, then we are mistaken,” continued the nestor of the Tynaarlo municipal council. “The fact is, we’re going to have to live with this.”
Councilor Jurryt Vellinga (Liveable Tynaarlo) says he partly recognizes this ‘gloomy story’. “As a municipality we have little influence on these types of developments such as the disappearance of shops,” he said. “Only building many more homes might have an effect.”
Yet Vellinga emphasizes that the Vries action agenda is about more than just the number of shops in the village. “It’s also about quality of life and excitement. How do you keep an attractive village, where something happens and where the center looks good? We are now talking about that, also in the citizen forum.”
Vellinga, for example, hints that the reorganization of the Vriezer Brink is being considered in the background.
The citizens’ forum is a trial by the municipality of Tynaarlo to hear from the population in an informal way what needs to be done in Vries. Vellinga does indicate that there is currently no capacity to set up a large project, such as the redevelopment of the Brink, in the village.
“A lot is being done in Eelde and Zuidlaren,” says Vellinga. “That means we cannot tackle a major project in Vries in the short term. But we can now see what we want to do later.”
Councilor Pieters believes that the municipality should not rely on a lack of capacity to tackle Vries. “Then we will just hire external parties,” said Pieters, who believes that – despite the trend he sees in Vries – the municipality should certainly continue to invest in the village.