“How do I feel when I look at this? An empty feeling,” says Walhout, as he watches the mobile home in which he lived for years being towed away. Eight years ago he and his partner moved to Panda Rosa. “Then there was already a housing shortage and we were sent here. And we had it done perfectly here,” he looks back. But that time comes to an abrupt end. “We are simply wiped off,” says Walhout. “There were several people who lived here permanently, while the municipality tolerated that. But now we have to leave, without mercy.”
He does not blame camping owner Speulman. “But the municipality of Noordenveld did, I expected more from that,” he adds. “They were supposed to ensure that residents could move on to other accommodation, but nothing came of that. We have not heard from them since Speelman took over the campsite. We just had to save ourselves, and now we are here,” summarizes Walhout .
He has now been able to arrange other accommodation, twenty kilometers away in Oosterwolde. “That took some effort, but we succeeded. We had to arrange everything ourselves, although it remains to be seen when we can enter that house.” Until then, the couple can go to a neighbor, says Walhout, who would nevertheless have preferred to live in the area. “But we didn’t have the province to choose,” he laughs.
Of the remaining two Panda Rosa campsite residents, one has indicated that he is also looking for other accommodation. The other does not intend to leave after April 1 either.
Watch the video below about the events this morning at the Panda Rosa campsite: