Anyone driving through Drenthe may not always consciously see them, but they do tell us something about how municipalities deal with their language and identity: place name signs that sometimes also show the Drenthe variant in addition to the Dutch name.
In some municipalities this is now very normal, in others it is still something that is waiting in a policy document or a drawer.
Anyone traveling through the province will quickly see that there is no one line. Each municipality makes its own choices, and sometimes it even differs per village.
In Coevorden, Drenthe place name signs can already be found in several villages. They didn’t just happen. Villages themselves asked for it and the municipality ultimately decided to join in.
In Emmen there is a plan to replace a series of signs and also add Drenthe names. The plan is there, but its implementation is still pending. The costs and planning have not yet been finalized.
In contrast, there are municipalities where the subject hardly plays a role or where the choice has already been made not to do anything with it. In Westerveld, the municipality says that there has never really been a concrete initiative to place signs in Drenthe.
Things are different in Assen. The municipality states that the Drenthe place names are the same as the Dutch ones, which means that, according to this municipality, additional signs are not necessary.
And in Meppel the decision has been clear for years. In 2019, the municipal council decided not to place place name signs in Drenthe, which means that the subject has been completed.
In other municipalities you mainly see that it depends on separate initiatives, often from villages themselves. In Central Drenthe, for example, only Westerbork has a sign in Drenthe. This came about after the village itself asked for it and the municipal council released money for it. New applications are possible, but there is no broad plan for all villages.
The picture is similar in Noordenveld. There is only a Drenthe variant, Paais, in Peize, and there are no other concrete plans.
The subject has also been discussed in the municipal council in Tynaarlo and Hoogeveen, but has not yet been developed into policy.
An important recurring point is money. Signs are usually only replaced when they technically need to be replaced. That moment often determines whether there is room to also include Drenthe names.
In addition, European regulations are coming whereby all bowl signs (because that is what the signs with place names on them are called) will have to be replaced with a version where your car automatically recognizes how fast you are allowed to drive there. When this obligation comes into effect, the possibility of duplicate names on the signs will also be examined.
In De Wolden there is sympathy for Drenthe-language signs, but it is not a priority to replace them sooner than necessary.
Things turned out differently in Borger-Odoorn. Money had been reserved there for Drenthe place name signs, but that budget was ultimately used for additional BOAs. New European rules for traffic and place name signs are still pending, which means that the urgency to invest now was perceived as lower.
According to the Huus van de Taol, a lot has been happening in this area for years. The organization mainly sees that initiatives often come from villages themselves. Coevorden is a good example of this. A local request led to several bilingual place names there.
In addition, the Huus van de Taol also points out that European rules play an indirect role. Because signs have to be replaced anyway, that is often the moment when municipalities decide to also include Drenthe names.
But the conclusion remains the same. It varies enormously per municipality. Some people actively take it up, others let it depend on individual requests or do nothing with it at all.
This creates a picture in Drenthe that is not tightly organized, but rather fragmented. One municipality consciously chooses signs in Drenthe, while another waits or has other priorities such as enforcement or infrastructure.
And so in the province you end up with a patchwork of choices about something that at first glance seems as simple as a sign along the road.
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