Chavez Wagenmakers works at the after-school care that is located in the De Rietzanger child center. With the arrival of the supermarket, a playing field for the children of the school and after-school care disappears. “Especially the older children like to use the field,” he says. “There is a lot of football on it.”
“The municipality is working on making the neighborhood greener,” continues Wagenmakers, who lives in the area. “Then why would you start a supermarket here?”
Local resident Koos Bogaerts calls the construction of the supermarket illegal and has submitted an enforcement request because of the nitrogen deposition. His request to the province is supported, among others, by Milieudefensie Nederland, IVN Eelde-Paterswolde, Natuur en Milieufederatie Drenthe and the Eelde-Paterswolde Business Association.
“The most important thing is that we get clarity from the province. Are the standards being exceeded or not? If we are wrong, that is also clear,” says Bogaerts.