The municipality of Oss has promised to improve, but the future for the motocross circuit, the kart track and the shooting bunker in Berghem remains uncertain. This became clear on Friday after a conversation that the Nieuw Zevenbergen Foundation had with alderman Jacco Peter Hooiveld. The foundation will continue to disband if Oss does not come up with a new permit soon. All activities then stop at the sports park.
The Nieuw Zevenbergen Foundation (SNZ) would like to professionalize and redevelop the motor park in order to keep the sports park profitable. That is not possible now because the municipality of Oss has so far refused to issue the correct environmental permit and to adjust the zoning plan. It is still run under an outdated license from 1993.
“The municipality of Oss has made empty promises before and we don’t want words but deeds.”
SNZ has been fighting for fourteen years to change. And now, after a long radio silence, there was finally another meeting with the responsible alderman last Friday. According to Johan Becker, that went quite positively, although the chairman of SNZ remains skeptical.
“The biggest advantage is that a project group has been set up that meets every three weeks. We are involved in this if necessary and we receive a monthly report. In the first quarter of 2023, the city council will then have to consider the permit and the destination plan.”
“The alderman is really of good will and has promised to get everything running smoothly as soon as possible. But the municipality has made empty promises before and we don’t want words but deeds.”
“The municipality is only looking for a few other lunatics who want to fight them constantly.”
The request from the municipality to stay on as board was therefore not honored by SNZ chairman Johan Becker and the other members. “We will only do that once the new permits have been issued and the zoning plan has been amended,” he says. “The position that we will disband as of January 1, 2024, when the ground lease expires, will remain. And perhaps sooner.”
In that case, the municipality of Oss has a problem, because the SNZ, as a leaseholder, manages the permits for the motocross circuit, the shooting bunker and the kart track. That means that things will stop and that people can no longer practice their hobby.
“If we do not succeed in getting a new permit, it will not be at all. It is really necessary for a good exploitation. And it is not an empty threat. If this does not succeed, then the municipality will look for a few others lunatics who feel like fighting them all the time.”
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