Green Planet gas station is allowed to build an advertising and climbing tower next to the A28 motorway near Pesse. The Hoogeveen city council approved an amended plan on Thursday evening. The tower will be smaller than in the first plans and will not have LED screens. Proponents and opponents are especially happy that there is finally clarity about the headache file.
“We have been working on this for years,” says Folkert Metselaar of the Gien Planet action committee. Together with his supporters, he looked at the decision in the council on Thursday evening. “It was clear that we couldn’t stop the tower completely. What comes next is what the council finds acceptable for local residents. We have to deal with that.”
No jubilation
Entrepreneur Edward Doorten of Green Planet says he can live with compromise. “We have gone from 37 meters to 30 meters. Politicians have decided in this way, there is nothing more that can be done about it. Then I will join in.” Doorten does say that a heavy burden has been lifted from his shoulders. “You work towards something for eight years. The moment that clarity comes, yes that is liberating.”
But the entrepreneur does not want to speak of a jubilant mood. He would have liked to see LED-illuminated billboards on the advertising column. The council did not agree. “We would have liked to use those screens. But there was no majority in the council. So now we have to fill that in in a different way, for example with advertising boxes or advertising banners.”
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