The legal battle surrounding the Aldi supermarket in Scheemda, which has been dragging on for years, has been lost by the municipality of Oldambt. That costs 365,000 euros.
“It’s a great shame that we have lost this amount,” says councilor Erich Wünker (VVD).
The issue started many years ago. There had already been an Aldi supermarket in the Poststraat in Scheemda for a long time. It was relatively small and it was decided to build a new one nearby. A project developer did that.
Planning damage
The municipality removed the ‘supermarket’ designation from the previous, smaller location. The owner stated that the value of the place had become much less and wanted planning compensation. The directors of Oldambt paid the plan damage, an amount of 337,000 euros. They then wanted the developer of the new Aldi location to pay that amount to the municipality. According to them, that agreement had been recorded.
The developer refused. A lengthy legal battle thus ensued. Oldambt was proven right a few years ago. However, the Court of Appeal in Leeuwarden has now ruled in the appeal that the municipality cannot sufficiently demonstrate that the developer of the new Aldi must pay the stated amount.
Process costs
“As a result, we have now indeed lost that sum and have to pay legal costs, all together an amount of 365,000 euros,” said Wünker. ,,Pity. We have informed the municipal council by letter. We have already learned from this issue. We ensure that we better record and safeguard agreements for such large projects.”