‘Major renovation in the Netherlands has not yet got off the ground’

The Netherlands is in danger of coming to a “creaking standstill”, warns the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli). The government has major plans for, for example, housing construction, nature improvement, the energy transition and traffic and transport, but “the implementation is lagging behind or is not getting off the ground,” says the Rli, an independent advisor to the government and parliament.

That warning is included in the advice The implementation starts which was published on Tuesday. “It is a cry for help, behind the civilized language of an analysis,” says Jeanet van Antwerpen, Rli member.

One of the causes is the gap between policy and implementation. Van Antwerpen: “Take each other seriously, involve all parties before you start making policy. This also fits in with the ‘new administrative culture’ of transparency and trust. If goals are not achieved or not achieved on time, citizens will have a bad feeling.”

Homes and water

For example, the outgoing government wants to build one hundred thousand homes per year until 2030, but the number of building permits is lagging far behind and will shrink further next year. According to international agreements, the quality of surface and groundwater must be improved by 2027, and 80,000 hectares of nature must be added. The Netherlands will never achieve that at this rate.

The Rli had ten examples investigated, from onshore wind energy and waste separation to natural gas-free neighborhoods and rail transport. Five obstacles appeared to occur almost everywhere: increasingly complex policies, reluctance to make decisions, inadequate organization surrounding implementation, unequal costs and benefits of projects and a shortage of well-trained people.

A general conclusion is that the problem is persistent. Many parliamentary investigations since the Second World War have focused on abuses in implementation: from construction fraud and housing associations, to the Fyra and the Benefits Scandal.

In any case, the new cabinet will have to continue with the major spatial challenges for the future. In politics in The Hague, the call is not for more equality between policy and implementation, but rather for more central control in the organization of the Netherlands. The government now calls the closure of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in 2010 a historic mistake.

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Less and less space

“Even if you want to take more control, involve knowledge from implementation practice,” Van Antwerpen advises. “That does not only apply to ‘The Hague’, but to all levels of government. The obstacles we mention are not new. These have always been an issue. However, we now have so many tasks and goals, while there is less and less space in the Netherlands. This makes it more complicated to make good choices.”

Van Antwerpen herself has been working in area development for years, in addition to her activities for the Rli. “When drawing up an environmental vision, I used to sit down with local entrepreneurs, farmers, shopkeepers, residents and teachers. Good ideas emerged in an open conversation about what is important to the municipality.”

As an example of equality in policy and implementation, she mentions the Waalfront project in Nijmegen, the redevelopment of an old industrial estate into a residential area. It is a public-private partnership between the municipality and area developer BPD, Van Antwerpen himself contributed to it as regional director of BPD. “Both parties are then shareholders, contribute knowledge and people, and the financial risks are shared equally.”

But equal working relationships also provide no guarantee against inflation, price increases and rising interest. Waalfront was in the news last year because part of the construction was delayed.

The pipeline for the heating network from Pernis via The Hague and Delft to Leiden is being constructed, but connecting the houses proved to be too expensive for the time being. The project has been stopped.

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Settlement culture

Negative messages in (social) media also play a role in government failure, the Rli writes in the report. The ‘settling culture’ makes directors afraid of making mistakes and that fear – paradoxically – sometimes leads to mistakes. As a precaution, everything is first thoroughly investigated and regulated, which in turn leads to delays. “There must be more room for openness about dilemmas, doubts and uncertainties,” according to the Rli advice.

Directors also tend to formulate grand ambitions and pile up policies. The implementation then often becomes complex, unclear and unfeasible.

Van Antwerpen: “For example, the ambition was to make fifty thousand existing homes natural gas-free until 2027. Very nice to write it down like that, but how do you do that? That is a learning process in itself. In practice, civil servants have to visit private homeowners, free landlords and housing associations. Shall we make your house natural gas-free, they ask. Yes why? Then a lot of financial arrangements have been devised, and it is difficult to explain.”

in the adviceCouncil for the Environment and Infrastructure There should be more room for openness about dilemmas, doubts and uncertainties

Specialist knowledge has also disappeared, which does not help with implementation. “Suppose a company leaves an industrial estate. As a municipality, you can establish a pre-emptive right so that the land is offered for sale to you first. Then you need professional officials who know this, oversee the situation and respond in a timely manner. Without an active land policy it is a missed opportunity.”

In any case, fewer civil servants is not a solution, says Van Antwerpen. Although there are political parties that are in favor of a smaller government, such as PVV, NSC and BBB, that may form a coalition. “Fewer civil servants, you don’t hear us say that, and you don’t hear that in the market either.” There is a shortage of qualified personnel for the implementation of spatial policy, according to the Rli.

Finally, there is often less resistance if citizens directly benefit from projects in their living environment, says the Rli. Van Antwerpen: “Wind turbines are fantastic for sustainable energy. But those living directly nearby often think more about noise pollution or obstruction of their view. Fortunately, there are also examples where residents can become shareholders in such a wind farm. This way you create more support to implement policy more quickly.”

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