There needs to be more asphalt and less ecology in the province’s new Environmental Vision. That’s what Entrepreneurial Emmen says. The entrepreneurs’ club believes that the province must make much tougher choices for the economy and accessibility in the Zuidoosthoek. The Environmental Vision falls short on crucial points for the economic future of the Emmen Region, according to Ondernemend Emmen.
The Environmental Vision also needs to be much more concrete, because it contains too many “abstract ambitions”, says director Herman Idema of the entrepreneurs club. Entrepreneurial Emmen is full of praise for the approach, in which the provincial government does not see the economy as a separate thing, but in connection with other necessary developments.
Chairman Jelle Dokter and director Herman Idema of Ondernemend Emmen wrote this in a statement about the draft Environmental Vision to the provincial government.
Idema: “Of course we are also in favor of a green Drenthe, but in Emmen almost half of Drenthe’s share of the Gross National Product is earned. Emmen is an industrial and logistical center of gravity in our province. That also means making choices.”
Idema and Dokter are afraid that all ecological regulations will hinder future economic activities, housing and infrastructure development in Emmen and the Zuidoosthoek.
According to Idema and Dokter, the role of Emmen and the Emmen Region as an industrial and logistics center of gravity is structurally underestimated. “The Emmen Region and the city in particular have a strong manufacturing industry, an extensive and broad industrial base and strategic connections with Germany, but this position is not sufficiently translated into spatial and economic choices,” they write.
“If you appoint Emmen as a hub, you must dare to make that happen with room for growth and protection of existing activity.”
While the province sees infrastructure as supportive, Ondernemend Emmen states that accessibility is a strict precondition for a healthy, future-proof region.
Entrepreneurial Emmen is trying to get an old plan included in the Environmental Vision. Idema: “The construction of the Emmen Northern Ring Road between Emmerschans and the N34. “The current ring road is not round. If you come from East Groningen or halfway through Emmen, you first have to drive on the existing ring road straight through Emmen before you can go north on the N34.”
And also a hobbyhorse of Entrepreneurial Emmen: the N34 must be completely doubled. Idema: “The already doubled section between Coevorden and Emmen continues fantastically. Complete doubling is not only desirable for freight traffic. If you just look at the serious and fatal accidents on the single-lane section, that alone is reason for doubling the road.”
According to Iwema, higher educated people are often willing to travel further to work every day, but the infrastructure must be good.
The connections with Twente and Germany also need to be improved according to Ondernemend Emmen. After years of consultation, the continuation of the A37 into Germany, the regional road E233, is now also being doubled to the connection with the A1 at Cloppenburg.
Idema: “Of course we are very happy with the commitments from The Hague for the Lower Saxony line, but for us it only starts with making the Zuidoosthoek more accessible. This must also be done in the villages in the region, by improving the bus lines.”
“It is good that the pursuit of broad prosperity is included in the Environmental Vision. It is positive that economic development is not regarded as an isolated theme, but is explicitly linked to quality of life, social cohesion and health. At the same time, we are missing things to actually realize that broad prosperity through the economic potential of Emmen and Southeast Drenthe,” Idema writes to the provincial government.
For Entrepreneurial Emmen, it is all described a bit too abstractly in the Environmental Vision. “It starts with having a job and income security. That also determines broad prosperity.”
