Local politicians agree that millions must be invested in Breda in tackling overdue maintenance of streets and squares. But not everyone is in the mood to invest all that money in an outdated way of working.
One fifth of Breda’s roads does not meet the maintenance standard. This is because they are used more and more intensively, but also because extreme weather causes more and more damage.
There is a ray of hope: there is no acute threat to safety yet, but that is no reason for alderman Carla Kranenborg (Public Space, VVD) to leave everything as it was. On the contrary, she wants 3.2 million euros from the council to eliminate the overdue maintenance as quickly as possible.
Most political groups in the city council agree with this, it turned out during a meeting that took place on Monday. “We can’t wait any longer,” said D66 councilor Patrick Smans. His CDA colleague Jeroen Bruijns also thinks so, who describes the overdue maintenance as “a stumbling stone and a stumbling block”.
The Forum for Democracy and Party for the Animals groups believe that it is very easy to allocate 3.2 million euros to tackling public space. “The process is not transparent. I have no insight into how this money is spent,” said Forum leader Marnix van Woudenberg.
Janneke van Lierop of the Party for the Animals observes that the ‘3.2 million are being spent in an old way, which demonstrably leads to new arrears’: “And then in two years’ time we will have the same discussion as now.” Woudenberg therefore feels little need to agree to the investment of 3.2 million euros.
That is difficult for alderman Kranenborg, because he has a deadline. If the council does not quickly decide on the use of the millions, it will be faced with a so-called ‘unlawfulness’. The bottom line is that the annual accounts of the municipality are no longer correct and that is not allowed by the accountant.
Not impressed
But Forum and PvdD are not impressed by that either. This does not mean, however, that the proposal is in great danger of being cancelled. A large majority in the council will remove any opposition at the next council meeting.