The day that local residents have been waiting for almost a year has come: Tom de Wal has submitted a permit to the municipality of Altena on behalf of his religious organization for the construction of a new events center in Dussen. There he wants to organize healing and deliverance services, among other things. During such a service you could be healed of diseases or freed from demons. Local residents are not happy and are preparing to object. “This year starts right away with taking action.”
The hares are still running through the field on the Oude Kerkstraat in Dussen, but if the plans of Tom de Wal’s religious organization go ahead, a religious events center will be built with room for around 1,500 guests and a large parking lot. The location, which previously housed a party centre, already has a permit for a parking space across the road for four hundred cars. But a permit is still required for the new construction of the religious center. Local residents are very concerned about the crowds this will bring.
“There was only one person who had no objection.”
Helga Gardenier and Rob Suykens started a petition against the arrival of the religious center. It was signed more than five hundred times. Together with a group of concerned villagers, Gardenier and Suykens have been preparing to object for months. The club issued a survey that was completed seventy times. “We asked: do you have any objections to noise nuisance, traffic nuisance, the organization itself, other or no objection,” Gardenier explains. “There was only one person who had no objection and 9 out of 10 even filled in something in all areas.”
Formally, an objection can only be made when the municipality of Altena grants the permit. The municipality of Altena has announced that it is processing the permit application. “It is an events center with offices and classrooms,” a spokeswoman said. The municipality will make a decision in about six weeks.
“Is there anyone with legal knowledge?”
In the meantime, local residents can inform the municipality that they object to the arrival of the De Wal events center. The municipality can then take this into account in their (provisional) decision whether or not to grant the permit.
Gardenier informed Omroep Brabant that it will get to work and see what actions local residents will now take. She has already posted a message in the Facebook group where local residents unite: ‘Best wishes for the new year. A year that starts with taking immediate action.’ She also makes an appeal: ‘Is there anyone who has legal knowledge and could help us with this?’.
“Grand! This is something big! We are here for our rest. That is not a combination,” says Helga Gardenier with emotion in the podcast ‘Op Hoop van Zegen’. In a new episode of the Omroep Brabant podcast, several local residents talk extensively about their concerns surrounding the arrival of Frontrunners Ministries to their street.
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