Outgoing BBB State Secretary Jean Rummenie (Nature) must reassess whether Groningen Airport Eelde has adhered to the nature permit that the airport has had since 2009. According to the judge, the State Secretary has not sufficiently explained why enforcement action against the airport would not be necessary.
The Eelde Airport Local Residents Association (VOLE), and the Mobilization for the Environment (MOB) foundation of chairman Johan Vollebroek, believe that the airport did not comply with the permit between 2022 and 2023. According to them, more small aircraft were flying than permitted, which led to additional nitrogen emissions and a greater burden on nature.
The nature permit from 2009 states that the airport may carry out a maximum of 69,099 flight movements per year, of which 49,625 for general aviation and 19,474 for large aviation, such as passenger flights.
These numbers should limit the negative effects on nature reserves, such as nitrogen emissions. In addition, a maximum noise limit applies that arises from the Aviation Act and is intended to protect local residents against noise pollution.
VOLE and MOB asked the cabinet in December 2023 to take enforcement action against the airport, because according to them, too many small flights took place that year and the airport was therefore operating outside the limits of the nature permit.
The then minister rejected that request. After objections from VOLE and MOB, State Secretary Rummenie ruled in January that the airport remains within the permit and that enforcement is not necessary. He assumed that only the noise standard in the permit was important and that the airport itself could determine how many flights and what type of flights take place, as long as the noise level remained below the permitted limit.
The judge does not agree with this. According to the judge, the State Secretary misinterpreted the permit: it not only concerns noise, but also the number and type of flights.
The judge believes that the State Secretary should have investigated whether more small flights are actually taking place than is permitted, as VOLE and MOB argue. Therefore, he cannot demonstrate that the effects on nature remain within the limits of the permit.
The State Secretary must now reassess within eight weeks whether Groningen Airport Eelde has complied with the 2009 nature permit. Only then can it be decided whether enforcement action is necessary.