In principle, no developments may take place in the NNN areas that have negative consequences for nature. A new development may only go ahead if there is a major public interest, there are no alternatives, the consequences for nature are limited as much as possible and the initiator compensates for the lost nature elsewhere.
The province of Drenthe has the ‘no-unless’ principle as a starting point for initiatives that are harmful to protected nature areas. This means that new initiatives in nature areas are actually not allowed, unless there are reasons to do so. According to the Court of Audit, this principle means that nature does not often have to be compensated in Drenthe. From 2014 to 2021, nature compensation was applied in seven initiatives.
Projects of major public interest can, for example, concern safety, drinking water supply or installations for generating electricity using wind energy.
According to the Northern Court of Audit, the province did not make it sufficiently clear why it sometimes gives permission for certain projects in nature areas. For example, it has not become clear why the construction of a few holiday homes or a pancake house is of great public interest. The Court of Audit states that the decision-making on nature compensation ‘is not always transparent’ and that the province does not ‘adequately monitor’ the implementation.
The Northern Court of Audit believes that the province should elaborate better when an initiative is of major public interest. In addition, the province could carry out independent field inspections to investigate whether a nature reserve has been affected. Finally, as far as the Court of Audit is concerned, the province should ask municipalities to report on the implementation of nature compensation projects.
The province can then keep records of how much nature area is lost due to new initiatives and how much nature is being added back through the compensation.
The province said in a response that it will adopt the recommendations and will implement them.
According to the Court of Audit, it is plausible that Drenthe will have to rely more on nature in the near future. The ‘Delta Plan for the North’ includes infrastructure projects and housing projects. Within this plan, 13,000 homes in Drenthe should be added over the next eight years.