The municipality of Aa en Hunze assumes that the Papenvoort location will be used for the reception of Ukrainians for another five years.
Mayor Anno Wietze Hiemstra reported this on Thursday evening during the council meeting of the municipality of Aa en Hunze.
“If the war is over, not everyone will leave in one fell swoop.” The location in Papenvoort can accommodate just under two hundred Ukrainians and even has its own primary school for children from Ukraine.
The CDA party wondered whether the municipal council had thought carefully about what would happen to Papenvoort in the long term. Council member Klaas Jan Stol wanted to know whether other refugees would then be taken care of.
‘Focus on Ukrainians’
Because the Ukrainian reception is expected to continue for years to come, Hiemstra does not think it is necessary to think about this yet. “We will see what the future brings after that. We can talk about that in due course. For now, we focus on the Ukrainians.”
The municipality can make its own choices about the plans on the site, because in November it bought the site from care organization Yorneo in Papenvoort for 5.75 million euros.