‘Gees should not become a second Orvelte’

Preserve the cultural-historical character of the Gees village as it is now. Day trippers are welcome, but the village in the municipality of Coevorden is not suitable for a tourist attraction like Orvelte is now. “That could affect the quality of life in our village.”

This is stated by chairman Siny Vink of Local Interest Gees. On Wednesday afternoon she presented the new village vision for Gees to councilor Erik Holties. Preserving the current character of the more than thousand-year-old esdorp is written in large letters in this document. “We see that all kinds of things are developing. We go along with these developments, but we also have our concerns.”

Four years ago, Gees, a village with many Saxon farms, was named by the ANWB as one of the fifty most beautiful villages in the Netherlands. “We are quite proud of that. We are increasingly seeing day trippers and recreationists coming here to enjoy themselves.” For the village, with about six hundred inhabitants, it is now important to keep an eye on the balance in the village. “The Oude Steeg in the village is a protected village sight and as far as we are concerned it should remain that way. We do not want souvenir shops to dominate, or that someone suddenly decides to paint a facade pink and hang up balloons outside.”

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