The oldest biological water purification plant in our country is located in Tilburg. But it is no longer in use, so what else can you do with it? The owner of the water treatment plant, the water board, organized a competition. The plan to open a playground with sports and catering facilities won. But the neighborhood is against it.
In the streets around the water treatment plant, the Armhoefse Akkers in Tilburg, you see posters everywhere against the windows: ‘Don’t spoil Moerenburg!’. Moerenburg is the nature reserve where the water purification plant is located. A petition against the plans has already been signed more than two thousand times.
“Here we celebrate the outdoors.”
The district is located on the Wilhelmina Canal. Across the street, entrepreneur Luc Zweerts puts the key in the gate of his future park ‘Waterproof’. “Here we take people in, or actually out. Because we celebrate the outdoors here,” he says enthusiastically.
Once inside, the eye first falls on the huge bins in which sewage was treated. “We are going to cordon off them with low fences, so that small children who cannot swim are safe,” explains Zweerts. “But we’re not doing anything else with this.”
The entrepreneur points to the lawn to his left: “There will be a bicycle shed there and there will be room for 75 cars. That building further on is the pumping station. There we will tell the story of this oldest sewage treatment plant in the Netherlands, together with Water Board De Dommel.”
A restaurant with a terrace will be built behind the pumping station. And that terrace gives a view of a huge round concrete box. “Here we are going to make a nature playground. With many plants and trees. Children can play safely while their parents keep an eye on them from the terrace.”
On the other side of the large box there will be a gym for outdoor sports, covered with a tarpaulin. Zweerts hopes to attract around 100,000 visitors a year with his park.
“Much too large for a nature park.”
Nanda Oudejans of the Moerenburg Waterproof action committee thinks it is all too much. “There will be 160 terrace places, at least ten festivals and events per year, eighty parking spaces,” she sums up. “We think that is much too large-scale for the nature park that is Moerenburg.”
According to Oudejans, there is not only protest from the neighbourhood. “We started a petition because we received reports that people who don’t come from here also want to make their voices heard. The petition is being signed by people from the city centre, Moergestel, Berkel-Enschot and other surrounding villages. So the resistance is widely supported.”
According to Oudejans, it is a matter of principle. “Hospitality belongs within the canal, in the city centre. This is the oldest water purification system. It is a bit lazy and old-fashioned to use catering there. So much more is possible.”
Zweerts believes that it will not be too bad. “We feel supported by research by specialists from the municipality. This shows that there will probably not be any parking or noise nuisance.”
The battle cry of the action committee ‘Do not waste Moerenburg’ hits Zweerts. “I find that very suggestive. I live here myself. No one is going to waste anything. I support our plans 100 percent. People also need to have a little trust in each other.”
