Residents living near Schiphol from Uithoorn demand that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management does not give permission for the mega maintenance job on the Zwanenburgbaan. If the minister approves Schiphol’s application for exemption for moving night flights to the Aalsmeerbaan, Uithoorn residents fear that they will lie awake at night for months.
The Zwanenburg runway at Schiphol must be completed from the beginning of January up for a long time. The first part of the renovation will last until mid-April, after which work on the landing system will continue until the end of June. Schiphol assumes that the Zwanenburgbaan can be used little or not at all for six months. The airport wants to set up the Aalsmeerbaan Runway for night flights for as long as possible and has requested an exemption from the government.
There is now unrest in the municipality of Uithoorn, which is under the smoke of Schiphol, about those night flights. Residents’ group PUSH Uithoorn demands from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management that the mega-maintenance of the Zwanenburgbaan is postponed indefinitely. According to the group, both the exemption application from Schiphol and the internet consultation of the government, on which local residents can post comments about the maintenance.
“The disruption of our sleep will have major consequences for our health”
upset
Mirella Visser of PUSH Uithoorn says residents are ‘upset’ about it. Locals have pinned their hopes on her residents’ organization. “The disruption of our sleep will have major consequences for our health and functioning, this goes beyond all limits,” one of them writes to her. “Hopefully you can prevent this, it can’t be the case that Schiphol can hit us like this?”
Emergency
According to Visser, the Aalsmeerbaan should never be used at night, not even during maintenance. She points out to the ministry that night flights on the Aalsmeer runway are in violation of the laws and regulations regarding runway use at Schiphol. Deviation is only allowed in an emergency, but maintenance falls under the airport’s regular operations, says Visser.
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Incomplete information
The residents’ group is also not satisfied with Rijk’s internet consultation. The ministry recently added additional documents, but that was after more than a thousand responses from local residents had already been submitted. According to Visser, these responses are based on incomplete information from the ministry. The consultation opened on 4 November and closed yesterday. A total of 1,801 responses were received.
A spokesperson for Minister Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management informs NH News that all responses will be studied. According to the ministry, the internet consultation will not be extended, despite the reports added later. Those documents, including recommendations from an external agency, have been made available ‘for the sake of transparency’.
Last month, environmental activist Johan Vollenbroek made even objection against the maintenance of the Zwanenburg runway, because Schiphol would not have a nitrogen permit.