Has secret deal around Berkhout business park accidentally become public?

What was that again? The plan was once to turn the site on Jaagweg into a business park. The province would buy the land and project developers Zeeman and De Peyler would then take over and develop it. The latter never happened, so the Province filed a claim of 27 million euros.

What’s the secret deal?

But in March 2019, the message suddenly appeared that a settlement had been reached. Its contents were secret. NH Nieuws and Berkhout is Boos, among others, appealed to the WOB (Public Access Act) to make the deal public, but both received zero on the bill.

According to the province, because the settlement was made provided it was secret. Furthermore, the province does not want other parties to gain insight into the tactics in disputes, which makes it possible, for example, to find out when the provincial government is prepared to make a settlement.

This was followed by a hearing at the Province, an objection procedure and a go to court. But so far without success. They are still trying to prove their point through the Council of State. Because they don’t want to give up. “As long as people remain silent, we will persist,” explains Berkhouter Annet Wood.

She continues: “I think that we as residents of Berkhout have the right to know what the plans are, it is our land. It is about the interests of the residents. What is the intention with the site in the future? something agreed? We just want to make that clear.”

41 completely blackened pages

What particularly bothers the objectors is the lack of transparency from the Province. During the hearing, they listed the documents they had received from the Province after their WOB request. “265 completely whitened pages, 41 completely blackened pages and 95 pages that are mostly black. Plus 45 mostly readable pages of documents that have been public for a long time.”

Wood explains: “It really makes us angry and frustrated. It’s just completely white pages. So we don’t even know what part it is, or what page number. It can, and shouldn’t be.”

Was the deal made public by accident?

The deal is still a secret, the county attorney said. But is that really so? As a rabbit out of the top hat, Berkhout is Angry came up with a document from the Province. The agreement is mentioned under the heading ‘decisions whose confidentiality has expired’.

Both the members of the Council of State and the provincial lawyer were amazed. “What I see is a text that indicates it is public, I agree,” said the lawyer. “The only thing is, no decision has been made as such. I am in the dark as to why this is there.”

Tried and tested by many lawsuits and objections, the members of Berkhout is Angry know that it is not suddenly a foregone conclusion. Sighing, Wood says: “I dare not say anything about it. But if it says that it is public, you should just provide it? Then you can say: that’s a mistake, but it doesn’t work that way.”

No Member of Parliament inquired about deal

It also became clear that none of the 55 Members of Parliament inquired about the content of the deal when they were globally informed about this in a letter. While it may be millions of euros. Questions followed much later. “Very worrisome,” says Wood. “But can they comprehend it? It’s a piece of history for them, but the order of the day for us.”

Wood also refers to the plans to turn the site into a sunbathing area. “If a permit is issued, other things can just happen. And we are strongly against that,” she said about this before.

Meanwhile, the Council of State is their last chance to get openness. But anyway they keep going. “We remain alert to the plans. Our battle is not suddenly over, we will not let it go.”

The verdict is in six weeks at the latest.