Fewer defense locations
State Secretary Christophe van der Maat wants to concentrate Defense on fewer locations, he explains to RTV Drenthe. “I have therefore been instructed to divest real estate in one place and to modernize and make it more sustainable in another. One of the goals is to save money. Defense has about half of the buildings of the Central Government Real Estate Agency in use. will have to downsize in locations to continue to pay for the buildings.”
But concentration because of money is certainly not the only reason, according to Van der Maat. “We want to be an attractive employer. An attractive employer has modern housing. And concentration also ensures that our staff can have better contact with family and relatives because we want to reduce the number of relocations for families of Defense personnel. Finally, concentration ensures also for more practice and training together. That soldiers do not meet each other for the first time on the stairs of the plane when they have to go somewhere.”
The State Secretary says he wants to concentrate military activities in the largest barracks in the North: Havelte. He wants to move the more than a thousand soldiers of the airmobile brigade in Assen and the School Noord training center, but according to him this will keep employment in the region. He has not made a firm commitment about this to the provincial and Asser administrators. According to him, that is not yet possible because the planning is still at an early stage. “The aim is to maintain regional employment, so I do look at the regional impact.”
Why Assen closed?
Van der Maat: “During the exploration throughout the Netherlands, we looked at size, expansion possibilities, regional distribution. The barracks in Assen have no expansion possibilities. And Havelte is a place where we can move forward for decades to come.”
Van der Maat wants to contribute ideas about future plans for the barracks site. Housing is an option. Although Van der Maat does not say that he necessarily has this option in mind for Assen, it is of course an attractive place. Keep the beautiful monumental buildings on the Asser vaart and build a new residential area on the rest of the barracks site, close to the city center and the A28. Alderman Mirjam Pauwels of the municipality of Assen does not have to think about it yet. Drenthe is not a Randstad.
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