‘Ladies and gentlemen, in a few minutes we will arrive at Steenbergen Airport’. It would have been very close if the pilot of your holiday flight could have announced this. What not many people know is that Steenbergen was once seriously considered as a location for a second national airport. “The runways were even already drawn,” says Frans van Eekelen (75). He stood on the barricade with the action group ‘Schiphol 2, no’ to stop the airport in West Brabant.
“We were a small group of young dogs, in our early twenties. We especially criticized the fact that residents would not be given a say. After all, at that time the authority of the mayor still applied. He was a docile director for whom the national interest came first. To make room for the airport, the villages of De Heen and Kruisland would be completely wiped off the map. Just imagine, isn’t it really bizarre?”
“When the plans leaked, all hell broke loose in West Brabant.”
In the early 1970s, politicians in The Hague foresaw that Schiphol would outgrow its capacity. The Falkenhagen committee was given the task of mapping possible locations in the Netherlands for a second airport. Steenbergen and the Markerwaard turned out to be the most suitable. When the secret report with the plans for the area between Steenbergen and Dinteloord was leaked, all hell broke loose in West Brabant.
Newspaper headlines from that time speak for themselves: ‘Farmers don’t want an airport: We’ll dig in if we have to’ or ‘Doctors warn of nervousness due to noise pollution’. Moreover, according to Frans van Eekelen, the resistance did not start immediately in the beginning. “Taking action had yet to be invented here. We were seen as long-haired scum. When we hung posters in Steenbergen, people even said it was a shame. People weren’t used to that. The local newspaper talked about environmental pollution.”
“Steenbergen was turned upside down.”
The turnaround came after welfare groups and three general practitioners in the municipality joined the protest. Frans: “The group kept getting bigger and a snowball effect developed. The mayor, who initially saw benefits due to employment, also joined the opponents. Steenbergen was turned upside down, at its peak in 1973 there was a great collective resistance to the arrival of the airport.”
And: it never came to that. In the mid-1970s, West Brabant became second choice. The Hague’s eye fell on the Markerwaard. But ultimately that plan also ended up in a drawer. Air traffic increased less quickly than expected and the aircraft became quieter. Moreover, economic growth stagnated, which ultimately resulted in a recession in the 1980s.
The discussion surrounding Schiphol is now more topical than ever. Residents living near Amsterdam airport went to court last week to force the State to take action against noise pollution. At the same time, a majority of the House of Representatives canceled plans for commercial flights from Lelystad Airport. “We were apparently way ahead of our time fifty years ago,” says Frans.
“It would have become unliveable in our beautiful polder.”
He continues: “I hate to think that the airport would have come here anyway. It would have become unliveable in our beautiful polder. You can never be sure whether our protest contributed to the reversal of the plans. I look back on this time with pleasure. It gives me the feeling that with our small club we have been able to contribute to the fact that Steenbergen has remained the beautiful town.”
As far as the demonstrators of that time are concerned, at ‘Steenbergen Airport’ all ‘gates closed’.
Omroep Brabant was present at the ‘t Cromwiel community center in Steenbergen from Monday January 29 to Thursday February 1 to look for your story. Did you miss us and would you like to share your story with us? Then send a message to [email protected] or app us on 040-2949492.