More solar parks? Mandatory buying out farmers? Plenty of debate between residents and party leaders during Meetup

Still no idea which box should be scratched red on March 15 during the Provincial Council elections? After watching the NH Meetup Provincial Council Elections, you will in any case have a clear picture of the different positions of the parties on the themes of Housing, Climate & Environment, Nature and Reliable and Transparent administration.

These four themes were not chosen haphazardly, they surfaced after extensive research by Kieskompas. The residents who took part in the discussion are all involved in one of the four themes.

Theme 1: Living

The present leaders for the subject of Housing are Ibrahim Ghazi (DENK), Marco Deen (PVV), Anouk Gielen (GroenLinks), Remine Alberts (SP), Grethe van Geffen (On behalf of North Hollanders.) and Esther Rommel (VVD). The citizens present who represent the Housing theme are Maurice van Grasstek from Rijsenhout and Peter Mes from Obdam. Given the outcome of the study by Kieskompas, the first theme Housing – and with it the housing crisis – is also the most urgent problem.

Maurice van Grasstek is thirty years old, graduated years ago and still lives with his mother in Rijsenhout. He wants nothing more than to buy his own house, but according to him that is ‘impossible’. He cannot borrow enough and earns too much for social housing. “That sucks, I want to be on my own at some point. I’m thirty, so it’s okay once.” According to Van Grasstek, there is no home to be found in all of North Holland.

No affordable housing

“Actually, I am forced to either be in the top of North Holland, which is very far from my work, or to leave for the south or east of the country,” says Van Grasstek, visibly frustrated. According to him, there are no affordable owner-occupied homes under 3.5 tons. “I’m alone, how am I supposed to pay for that if I can borrow around 1.7, 1.8 tons?”

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The first statement to which the party leaders can respond is ‘To meet the high demand for new homes, construction may also take place in the green countryside’. GroenLinks is against. Party leader Anouk Gielen is 23 years old, she herself rents a room in Amsterdam. “I was very lucky to find it. It shouldn’t depend on luck if you can find a place to live,” she says. She is for affordable housing, but inner city. According to her, we don’t have the luxury of sacrificing pastures. However, cooperation with both the national government and the municipalities is ‘desperately needed’.

Remine Alberts (SP) thinks that when it comes to housing, we have ‘seriously baked pears’. According to her, the housing crisis is the result of market forces in housing. She prefers inner-city construction and renovation, so without having to affect green areas. The other party leaders at the table are in favor of building homes in green areas.

Grethe van Geffen (On behalf of Noord-Hollanders.) finds the regulations frustrating and wants to abolish a number of them, which she believes is feasible. “We are in favor of people who are on a waiting list in their own municipality, who were born and raised there, who have family or work there, that they are given priority over others.” She wants more rules to protect nature and health.

Beating a dead horse

Peter Mes is also looking for a home. He wants to live smaller so that his large home becomes available for a family. But he is also stuck because there are no suitable transition homes available for seniors. And according to Mes, that has been the case for a long time. “The Tuinderweide in Obdam has been ready to build houses for fifteen years, there is always a rocky mess. Then there is this, then there is that,” he says about his attempts to find out when building will finally happen . “It’s beating a dead horse, you can’t keep that up.”

Theme 2: Climate & Environment

For the second theme of this afternoon, party leaders Sander de Wit (BVNL), Bob Sikkema (Pirate Party), Daniël van den Berg (JA21), Jeroen Olthof (PvdA), Jan-Jaap de Kloet (Independent Political-NH) and Fred Sanders (AWP) to the Meetup. Rein van Straten from Hoorn and Anne Albers from Wijk aan Zee are present as involved citizens for the subject of Climate and Environment.

Rein van Straten is chairman of the citizens’ initiative Solar Cooperative West Friesland and the initiative will soon help to convert a pear orchard into a meadow full of solar panels. According to the chairman, the major obstacle for the initiative is that they do not have an equal position compared to project developers. He wants politicians to support citizens’ initiatives financially, for example through a development fund, and to make land available for them. “So that we are in a better position, which helps to become more sustainable.”

Such citizens’ initiatives are completely in line with the Pirate Party. “They must be given the same opportunities as the large companies. Because one way or another they are allowed to do everything,” says party leader Bob Sikkema.

Almost all party leaders agree with the statement ‘In order to generate as much sustainable energy as possible, solar panels may also be placed on meadows’. Daniël van den Berg (JA21) disagrees: he prefers to use nuclear energy, which he believes is more reliable and affordable in the long term.

The party leaders do agree on the statement ‘The most environmentally polluting companies must leave North Holland, even if this is at the expense of employment’: they are all against that. The measure to ban major polluters for the environment goes too far for the parties.

Only resident Anne Albers agrees with the statement and that comes through her experiences with Tata Steel. “The future is simply at stake in the field of health and sustainability in the Netherlands. And especially in such a densely populated area as the Randstad. Then there is simply no room left for companies that pollute so much.”

Theme 3: Nature

Ingrid de Sain (BoerBurgerBeweging), Amélie Strens (D66), Dennis Heijnen (CDA), Ines Kostić (Partij voor de Dieren) and Adriaan Coppens (Jesus Lives) are the party leaders present who have their say on Nature, the third theme of the evening. Pauline Klein from Anna Paulowna and Gerard Veldt from Castricum are present as involved citizens. Klein believes that there should be more room for nature, if necessary at the expense of agriculture. “Everything that is gone is gone and it just won’t come back,” she says about the nature reserves she cherishes. “Whatever is left, we have to be careful with it.”

Except for the Party of the Animals and D66, all those present are against the statement ‘The province must expand existing nature reserves, even if agricultural land then disappears’. According to the Party for the Animals, the situation we are in now is partly the fault of the CDA. “The fact that farmers are now in a pinch is partly due to the CDA.” According to Kostić, the Netherlands is also a champion in European biodiversity loss. There are too many intensive livestock farms in North Holland. According to the party leaders, we can use agricultural land much more efficiently and return it to nature, also to offer farmers a future.”

According to Adriaan Coppens of Jesus Lives, politics is ‘largely based on lies’. “People also lie very often and all have lied.” When asked what the truth is, Coppens replies: ‘Jesus’, which can count on a chuckle from the audience. According to him, Adam was created to be the manager of the Garden of Eden, among other things. According to him, the management of the earthly gardens is not happening as it should.

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The second proposition for the third theme reads: ‘Farmers may be forced to buy out in order to improve the quality of nature’. Dairy farmer Gerard Veldt from Castricum is against. “If I can earn my food with half the cows: fine, we’ll participate. But that’s not possible now.” D66 and the Party for the Animals think that being able to buy out farmers is a good plan.

According to Veldt, Noord-Holland supplies a ‘super product’ in the form of cheese. And according to him, instead of coming up with rules and restrictions, we should be quite proud of that.

Theme 4: Reliable and Transparent management

For the last theme, list leaders Rabella Wiersma – de Faria (Code Orange), Kok Kuen Chan (Netherlands with a Plan), Michel Klein (ChristenUnie), Andy vanVeen (Forum for Democracy), Maik de Weerdt (Volt) and Anneke van der Helmet (50 Plus) on. Annet Wood from Berkhout and Henno Dasselaar from Oudesluis are present as residents of North Holland.

Annet Wood has been fighting with the government since 2004 about more openness about agreements around the Distriport business park in Berkhout, an area that is a plaything for shady negotiations. The government is an unreliable opponent for her: as a citizen she is not an equal partner and there is no openness about matters. “As a citizen you cannot control what happens, but also as a local government you cannot control what happens and the media cannot control what happens.” Wood is clear: “You’re just getting screwed.”

Michel Klein of the ChristenUnie sympathizes with Wood, but denies ‘that secret decisions are being made’. “We have hardly had a closed meeting as Provincial Council in the past period,” says Klein. “That is also another side that I want to put on the table.”

The proposition ‘Residents should be given more say by organizing a referendum as a province for important decisions’ counts on many supporters at the table. Volt party leader Maik van Weerdt thinks Annet Wood’s story is ‘incredible’, but does not agree with the statement. According to Van Weerdt, a referendum is not the right tool for citizen participation. He takes Brexit as an example.

“Volt was founded in the aftermath of Brexit. Brexit was really a scandal of a referendum. A hugely important decision, completely flattened into a yes / no choice that was then thrown a lot of money.” The effects, he says, have been disastrous for the British people. “So yes to citizen participation and no to a referendum.”

The entire NH Meetup Provincial Council Elections is here to look back.

Stay up to date with the latest election news via NH News. On March 15 you can read everything about election day, a day later you will receive a detailed explanation of the result, the new political landscape and the consequences for our province.