The municipality of Noordenveld can continue with the plans for building on the currently still green zone along the Roden ring road. A council majority is positive about the arrival of a hundred houses.
With the exception of the opposition parties Lijst Groen Noordenveld (LGN) and Lokaal Noordenveld (LN), all parties are positive about the housing plans of the municipality. A council majority considers building houses important and does not want to wait any longer.
The municipality wants to build a hundred homes in the triangle between the ring road of the Maatlanden, the Zulthe and the Vredelaan. Of this, 45 percent consists of social rental homes and cheaper owner-occupied homes up to 355,000 euros.
Local residents are against the plans. They have already filed objections and forced talks with the municipality. Many local residents are again present in the public gallery on Wednesday evening to make themselves heard.
From green zone to housing
Local residents and political opponents of the plan take it very seriously that in 2017 the land was still designated as a green zone between the existing buildings and the nature reserve forest further on. Core of the criticism: the mayor and aldermen do not properly substantiate why the earlier vision is deviated from.
Alderman Jos Darwinkel (Municipal Interests) explains on behalf of B and W that the vision is not a fixed document as far as they are concerned, but that it is allowed to deviate from it in this time of housing shortage.
Laughter erupts from the public gallery. Local residents repeatedly tell the city council that until recently they had no indication that the land would be built on when buying a house and constructing the ring road. But, object B and W, nothing can be found about such promises, even after more frequent searching.
Maladministration?
“We are very pleased that we are taking another step closer to achieving our housing target. It deviates from the environmental vision, but it is improper administration to wait for a new environmental vision”, councilor Casper Colenbrader of Municipal Interests expresses the party’s vision.
Opposition parties LGN and LN believe that the municipality is not fair to its residents by deviating from its own vision. Tineke Nieboer of LGN wonders whether this way of deciding is allowed. That is the case, according to the alderman.
More research
There are also concerns about the impact of housing on the subsurface. Houses in the immediate vicinity have subsided due to problems with groundwater. With the green light from the council, changing the destination of the land, currently agricultural, is set in motion. Additional investigations are part of that procedure. The final judgment of the city council on this step in the process will follow on March 8.
The land is not yet owned by the municipality. Noordenveld has the right of first purchase until May next year. The green light marks the start of negotiations on the land purchase, which seems like a formality.