Gasselters cease resistance to holiday park after talks with project leader

During mutual discussions, the project developer has many objections that the residents had removed. As a result, there is now nothing standing in the way of the construction of the holiday park.

The Visiegroep Gasselterveld, consisting of a group of residents of the village, went to court in August last year to block the construction of the resort.

The residents feared that the arrival of the holiday park would make it too busy in the woods around recreational lake ‘t Gasselterveld and on roads around Gasselte.

In addition, they found that the project developer did not pay enough attention to the presence of protected animal species in the area.

The talks have brought both parties closer together, let both the residents and MI Vastgoed know. On the advice of the Council of State, the parties met and spokesman Elien Nijland says on behalf of the residents that he is happy with the outcome.

“We have the feeling that we have been listened to well and we have found a good middle ground. The project leader has promised us that much more attention will be paid to nature.”

In 2025, MI Vastgoed will have an ecological study carried out into the protected plant and animal species on the grounds of the resort. If this shows that species are disturbed, the project developer promises to intervene.

The developer is also planting more shrubs and trees on the site, expanding the waterholes in which a protected salamander lives and re-examining the plans for a bat bunker.

What will not change is the planned number of holiday homes and hotel rooms. Seventy houses and a hotel with seventy rooms will be built at the resort, making a total of six hundred beds.

According to the developer, with fewer beds, the project would no longer be profitable and there would therefore be no holiday park† That would also have been a loss for the municipality of Aa en Hunze, for whom the dilapidated terrain along the N34 has been a thorn in the side for years.

The arrival of the holiday park sowed division in Gasselte. Some of the residents indicated that the village and the roads around it could not handle so many tourists.

During summers with high temperatures, it was uncontrollable on several days around the swimming pools ‘t Gasselterveld and ‘t Nije Hemelriek.

Others see opportunities, because a large resort also provides employment. Tourists will also spend their money in nearby shops and restaurants, is the idea.

According to the vision group, the municipality has made mistakes. She blames Aa and Hunze for not organizing a consultation evening for residents of Gasselte and for not being able to give their opinion about the plans in advance.

“If the municipality had already involved residents in the plans in the initial phase and brought us together, then going to court might not have been necessary at all,” says Nijland.