Drenthe drivers are lobbying in The Hague to have Minister Mona Keijzer (BBB) of public housing and spatial planning changing ideas. They do not agree with the plan to allow permanent living on holiday parks in general.
“This crosses the process we are working on in Drenthe, in which we look at what is most suitable for each park,” says alderman Jacob Boonstra (CDA) who speaks as chairman on behalf of the Vitale Holiday Parks Drenthe. There are several municipalities in that steering group and the province of Drenthe.
It is feared that allowing permanent residence everywhere is at the expense of safety and the tourism sector. For example, Boonstra does not mention the living conditions at a holiday park ideal. Emergency services are less easy to arrive and some mobile homes are not suitable for permanent living.
He also points to the 20,000 people in Drenthe who depend on the tourism sector. “Those jobs are not directly at stake, but the moment the recreational sector is deteriorating rapidly because you mix it with permanent habitation, fewer and fewer tourists come to Drenthe,” explains Boonstra. “That will ultimately affect those 20,000 jobs.”
The steering group is not in itself against permanent residence. With the project they are working on a plan to make suitable houses from 1400 holiday homes. But they prefer that municipalities themselves are running the buttons. “We understand that the minister sees a major problem in the housing market. What we only like to see is that we as a municipality are in control of which parks we are going to convert into a residential area and which parks we say: tourism remains appropriate.”
He finds surprising that they are now being sidelined with residents and holiday parks after years of puzzling. “It is frustrating, because we are working on something in a good way. And then the minister thinks he knows better what is going on in Drenthe.”
Directors already wrote a letter to Minister Keijzer about this, but now go one step further with the lobby. If it is not possible to get the total plan off the table, then at least Boonstra wants municipalities to control the implementation.
Jos van der Linde has been living at the Nieuwlande holiday park since 2000, now better known as a residential park. For years he used a tolerance construction and is happy that the municipality of Westerveld decided to allow permanent residence a few years ago. “Living in a tolerance construction was quite exciting,” he says. “It’s a bit of uncertainty and you don’t know where you stand.”
Van der Linde regularly sees the cabinet changing thoughts. In 2013, for example, he received the announcement from the minister that, without the valid paper of a tolerance decision, no one was allowed to live in a holiday park anymore. “That is very annoying. You stand still, because you can’t do anything.”
He is pleased that the municipality of Westerveld and the province have done work in the Vital Holiday Parks project on his residential area and that he can continue to live there unlimited. He also grants others that clarity. “Good agreements have been made. How do you deal with each other and what is allowed and what is not allowed? That is neatly on paper. The municipality knows where it stands, we know where we stand. That gives a pleasant living environment . “