1/3 Yvon at her new car at the camp (photo: Studio040/Luuk Glaap).
One of the first electric caravans in the Netherlands has recently been installed at the caravan park on the Alblasstraat in Eindhoven. Unique because all other caravans at the camps in Eindhoven still heat and cook on gas. Resident Yvon met her new car at the camp with her family on Thursday.
The municipality of Eindhoven must create fifty new pitches for caravans in the next ten years. They must all come to the already fourteen existing camps of housing corporation Wooninc. All those new caravans must also become a lot more environmentally friendly and therefore no longer use gas and must be equipped with a heat pump.
“I wanted my trailer to look the same as the rest.”
Yvon’s caravan is therefore the most modern of the camp, but that is not visible from the outside. “I just wanted the brick slips you see on all other vehicles and no bare flat walls. That’s why it’s good that we discussed the look of the new caravan with Wooninc,” says Yvon.
The vehicles are produced in the factory and consist of solid wooden walls, floors and roofs, which are well insulated. Putting it together at the camp takes a month, says Maarten Prinsen of Wooninc. “In the past, construction took months and local residents were bothered by the noise. The wheels may no longer be under them, but if necessary we can move these vehicles within a few weeks.”
“We have to split up or reduce pitches to make more places.”
Expanding the number of pitches is a challenge for the municipality and Wooninc. “Not every camp can be expanded, so some pitches have to be split up or reduced in size to make room for a new car. A pitch can be a maximum of 150 square meters in size,” explains Maarten Prinsen of Wooninc. out.
The caravans rented out by Wooninc itself will also become smaller from now on, depending on the household. The surfaces vary from 63 to 114 square meters. If necessary, the houses can even be stacked or connected.
“I thought it wasn’t going to happen again.”
The waiting time for a pitch at one of the caravan camps in Eindhoven has now risen to 20 years. Family members of caravan residents are now given priority. Yet Yvon had to wait years. “I don’t remember how long, but at a certain point I thought it wouldn’t happen again because something kept interfering.”
Painful, because Yvon used to live at the trailer park. “When my husband died and my son could live on his own, I gave him our caravan and I moved to an apartment myself. So now I’m finally back.”
“Feels like coming home.”
And Yvon is happy about that. “It really feels like coming home again. I now live next to my niece and I still know everyone at the camp. That is really nice after all these years.” Now that she has the key, Yvon expects to be able to move into her new house at the end of August and return to her roots.
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