The Sustainable Kloosterveen working group goes into sleep mode. According to those involved, there is no longer any reason to take action after a new board has taken office. So they decided to take a step back.
Sustainable Kloosterveen was founded in March last year by residents of the Kloosterveen district in Assen. It was a response to the plans of the municipality, which had devised to rid the district of gas before 2030, if necessary by force. Most of the residents did not like that. In a few days, the working group collected more than a thousand signatures.
After the municipal elections in March this year, a new municipal council was formed in Assen. Since then, alderman Martin Rasker (VVD) has been involved in the energy transition. The working group is satisfied with him, says Dick van de Brand of Duuzaam Kloosterveen. “The new alderman demonstrates a much more realistic policy, in which listening to residents and thinking together about various options are important. This reduces the distance between the administration and the people of Assen.”
The working group sees no reason to take action at this time. “We see that the municipal council wants to collaborate with the district of Kloosterveen to shape the heat transition in a gradual manner without coercion. Sustainable Kloosterveen therefore does not have to act now, but encourages cooperation with the municipal council to ensure an affordable and gradual transition for residents. on other heat sources.”
Sustainable Kloosterveen will not disappear completely. The website will continue to exist and will be updated with information about the energy transition. “There, residents and other interested parties can be reached who have questions or want an explanation. This can be about solar panels, heat pumps, hydrogen or other alternatives to gas,” says Van de Brand.
There was a lot of unrest in Kloosterveen last year. The then responsible alderman, Karin Dekker (GroenLinks), had asked the cabinet for powers to force local residents to go off the gas. Kloosterveen felt cheated, partly because the alderman had not reported anything about her action.
According to Dekker, there was no reason for unrest, because such a so-called perseverance power was ‘certainly out of the question for Kloosterveen’.
After several talks between the two parties, trust was restored. The municipality added an appendix to the policy document on the energy transition. It stated, among other things, that natural gas-free living before 2030 is not a hard requirement. Residents are also not forced to switch to a different heating system.