In the Provincial Council (PS) of Drenthe, Volt does not understand that the province is blocking a permit from a Frisian farming family near Fochteloërveen. A farmer from Oosterwolde who keeps fewer cows and therefore emits less nitrogen, wants to transfer the permit to the family business.
But the province of Drenthe does not want any of that because there is external netting. One farm takes over up to seventy percent of the nitrogen space of the company that closes down. Volt faction leader Marloes Kramer-Hammenga does not understand the province’s attitude and has asked questions to the Provincial Executive about the issue.
Bram van ‘t Klooster from Fochteloo wants to transform his cowshed into a recreational facility and for this he wants to partly transfer the permit space for keeping cows to the company of his parents and sister in Oosterwolde, a kilometer away.
The province of Friesland had already given the green light in June for the so-called draft permit under the Nature Conservation Act. Because he is of the opinion that the Fochteloërveen, which is located in both Drenthe and Friesland, will not be affected by the relocation of the cows. The permit has been available for inspection for six weeks. The province of Drenthe objected to it.
Drenthe has indicated that it will not grant a permit for external netting as long as it is not clear how the excessive precipitation of nitrogen in nearby Fochteloërveen in Drenthe can be tackled. Friesland subsequently decided not to issue the permit, because the consent of the neighboring province of Drenthe is one of the conditions for granting the permit.
This leads to frustration for Bram’s sister Annelie. “You do everything you have to do. You hand in everything you have to hand in. You hand in cows for nature and those cows in Fochteloo are even closer to the Fochteloërveen than in Oosterwolde. I find it incomprehensible,” she says. The farmers say they feel trapped in a bureaucratic trap and have put their plans on hold for the time being.
Kramer-Hammenga from Volt asks GS whether they see that frustration. “The permit is about reducing the joint livestock herd of the ‘t Klooster family, which also increases the average distance to the Fochteloërveen. The nitrogen deposition for the Fochteloërveen is therefore reduced. How is it possible that Friesland can agree to the permit and Drenthe does not, while both provinces have to deal with the same legal framework?”, the Volt faction leader asks.
She suspects that the problems faced by farming families are a result of the province’s “wait and see attitude towards tackling the nitrogen problem.”