Current coalition parties ChristenUnie and the PvdA are not in the starting blocks for a new ice rink, they recently said in the Radio Drenthe program Cassata. CU party chairman Bernadette van den Berg-Slagter still has bad memories of the ice rink soap in Hoogeveen. The second downside for Slagter is the energy consumption. Although Rotterdam and Drenthe would then be the most energy-efficient skating rinks in the country, they still need 3000 solar panels. Van den Berg wonders where they should come from. Plus that the ice rink needs the power in the winter and the solar panels provide most of the power in the summer.
Nederlof: “On the roof and not on the ground. And 3000 to 4000 are needed. But then it is also 100 percent self-sufficient. In Rotterdam we finish the ice rink every year, but in Drenthe we want to leave it permanently and in the summer for other events. And we hope that the province will help us to make good agreements with the grid operator and an energy supplier, so that they can supply power in the summer for others that we want to have back in the winter.”
Ralph Du Long finds it a problem that there are no figures. He thinks that Nederlof should come up with that first. The PvdA is also not in favor of the quick scan that the province will carry out into the feasibility of an ice rink, he said in Cassata. But that global investigation will be done anyway, because a motion for this was passed in the Provincial Council. It seems that the PvdA party is divided, because member of parliament Jannie Roggen, who visited the Rotterdam ice rink, is willing to put in a few million under certain conditions, but not four.
A possible proposal and decision on a provincial subsidy for an indoor artificial ice rink will only come after the elections. The 5 million grant that was available for a new ice rink in Assen or Hoogeveen ended up in the general funds of the province after the ice rink soap opera in Hoogeveen. A new provincial government can make a choice after the elections, which in turn depends on the composition of the Provincial and Provincial Executive after 15 March.