Opposition parties GroenLinks, D66 and CDA in the municipality of Aa and Hunze want openness about the ‘t Ruige Veld care complex in Rolde. In a letter to the mayor and aldermen, the parties question the information shared with the city council.
The municipality and the owners of ‘t Ruige Veld fought a legal battle on the expansion of 24-hour care on the site. The owners would like to be able to receive more clients in the night, but the municipality stopped that for a long time and wanted to get rid of nuisance care residents.
Under the threat of a new lawsuit, AA and Hunze decided to allow an expansion of the night care last week. The opposition parties want to know why that is suddenly possible, while in the past the college had serious objections to more 24-hour care.
The parties also want clarity about the alleged nuisance in the neighborhood by clients of care institution Phusis, who has been using some care buildings on the site for years. During a lawsuit, Aa and Hunze could not properly substantiate that they actually cause a lot of nuisance.
“It seemed as if there was a lot of nuisance for residents,” says councilor Jannie Schonewille (GroenLinks). “But if you look at the actual situation, there is a whole list of reports that were supplied from the care institution itself. Not by the environment.”
The city council of AA and Hunze secretly forbade expanding night care last October. According to the three parties, that confidentiality had to prevent the owners of ‘t Ruige Veld from applying for a new permit in the meantime.
In this way the municipality also undermined an upcoming ruling of the Council of State, which stipulated two months later that the old ban of night care had to be taken off.
GroenLinks, D66 and CDA afterwards have difficulty with the duty of confidentiality and state that not all documents about the case are still public. “Confidentiality limits us as councilors enormously,” the parties write. The city council will formally withdraw the new prohibition on expansion during the upcoming council meeting on 6 March.
Nevertheless, all parties at the time approved the duty of confidentiality. “We had the feeling that the process had to go further,” explains Schonewille van GroenLinks. “But I think we had done it differently afterwards.”
Councilor Marita de Groot of D66 still supports the choice of her party to secretly decide on the Ruige Veld. “We never like confidentiality, but we can imagine the reason. Our biggest objection is that not all documents were released after the decision became public”. says De Groot.
In the meantime, B&W has agreed with the owners of ‘t Ruige Veld and Healthcare Institution Phusis to collaborate on a future plan for the care complex. The emphasis is on living and care, in particular for the elderly.