If it is up to De Brug village cooperative, the old muted canal in Gasselternijveen will be reopened. The organization asks the mayor and aldermen of Aa and Hunze for a feasibility study.
The initiative is part of the reconstruction of the center of Gasselternijveen. For example, the Peat Colonial character must be strengthened, the center beautified, cycle paths and streets must be improved and water drainage better regulated.
In Gasselternijveen, there has been a call for years to reopen the canal in the village. In 2006, a village vision was drawn up in which the partial reopening of the Vaart was already mentioned. According to the village cooperative, almost everything from that vision has been achieved, only the water has not yet returned to the center. Five years ago, a village initiative was therefore submitted to the municipality, but the cooperative never heard anything more about it.
A feasibility study into the excavation of the former Vaart would cost 300,000 euros.
Gasselternijveen has a special bond with water. The peat colony on the river Hunze was founded in the 17th century. It became a skipper’s village with its own seaport. From here, peat was transported to the city of Groningen and later also to cities in the west of the country. 110 years ago, in 1913, the village even had the fourth largest seaport in the Netherlands. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the canals and neighborhoods in the village were filled in.