Always a holiday feeling, in the middle of nature, but then without packing suitcases or having to go back home. For owners of Huizen on Recreatiepark De Tip in De Kiel, that dream seems to become reality. The municipality of Coevorden wants to allow permanent residence here.
Frank Baker has been living in the park for years, together with his partner. Officially that was not allowed, but the temptation turned out to be too great. “At some point you only get to the weekends. That will stay longer, and before you know it you will stay normal. We had already sold our other house and this felt logical. Look around you, in the middle of nature, close to the forests, this is the ultimate place for us.”
According to Alderman Steven Stegen (BBC2014) it is time for clarity. “The minister is working on a scheme where people are allowed to live in a park for a maximum of ten years. But we in the municipality of Coevorden are opting for a structural solution. Residents now get certainty for the long term. That gives peace and security.”
Arie de Groot also has a home in the park. He says that it has been a process of making permanent residence possible here. “In 2015, a housing vision was drawn up by Dorpsbelangen, together with the villagers. It was indicated that there had to be more housing, to prevent shrinkage and improve the liveability in the village. The recreation bungalows on the tip were already inhabited for about 50 percent and we went to the municipality with a request for transformation.”
The tip is about forty houses. Not everyone opts for permanent residence, recreation is still allowed. But for residents who continue to live, a lot will change soon.
Baker laughs: “The first difference is that we will soon get all our post here. And the fire brigade will soon be able to easily be back with us, we have to adjust the fence behind the house so that a car can go through. Those are the requirements and we pick it up.”
In addition, there is room for innovation: more biodiversity and even the possibility to set up up to fifty square meters of outbuildings.
De Groot is looking forward to the moment that he can officially call himself a resident of the tip. “We have had this house for years, first for the weekends. On Friday evening you got out of the car and it was quiet. We were not used to that in the west, there you always have planes and traffic. And yes, and yes, that really feels like you are always on vacation.”
Yet the plan for permanent residence is not yet complete. The environmental plan still needs to be approved by the city council. Baker remains sober: “Everything can still go wrong, that is also said. But it now feels like the end of a long journey.”
If everything goes ahead, the tip is the first park in the municipality of Coevorden where living and recreation go hand in hand. And probably not the last, because there are also plans at Bungalowpark Ermerzand.