De Wolden has not sufficiently substantiated the rejection of the permit for the stay of migrant workers at the Van Harte holiday park. The tenant of the houses in that park, Jacco Holties, successfully challenged the municipality’s decision in court.
Holties rents the buildings in that park from Van Harte Recreatiecentrum BV, the owner of the park. The land belongs to Staatsbosbeheer. There has been a lease agreement between Staatsbosbeheer and Van Harte since the end of August 1993. Holties runs an employment agency and has housed up to 100 migrant workers at the park since 2016.
In September 2021, Holties submitted an application for an extension of the permit for a period of five years. Two months later, the municipality’s refusal landed on Holties’ doorstep. He appealed and explained this in March 2022 during a hearing at the municipality’s objection committee.
The committee advised De Wolden in May to declare the objection well-founded. The municipality did nothing with that advice and relied on the ‘Framework memorandum on vital recreational parks’ in 2017, which stated that the holiday park in Echten was designated as a vital holiday park.
The Framework Note also stated that using the park for housing migrant workers would be a suitable temporary solution. According to the judge, the municipality has failed to substantiate why temporary housing for five years is not desirable in this case. The judge calls this a ‘lack of motivation’.