To meet the growing need for affordable housing in the Randstad, the Zuidplas municipality wants to build a completely new village. The village with 8,000 homes is planned in the open meadow area between Gouda and Zevenhuizen. An opponent speaks of a “large lump of concrete in the polder”.
The municipality did not proceed overnight with the plan. The new polder village was mentioned for the first time in 2004, reports Broadcaster West. All these years everyone agreed that the housing shortage needed to be addressed. The main question was whether this should be done by building in the existing four cores in the municipality or whether a new village should be added.
With one foot in the landscape
Because not only houses but also facilities need to be added, Zuidplas has now opted to build a new village in the middle of the polder. “It will be a new living environment for families and one and two-person households, including seniors,” the plan says. “For them there will be attractive homes that are affordable and accessible to all budgets, with one foot in the landscape and with the facilities and employment of the cities next door.”
“We are shocked”, responds Jan Baas of the local SP faction. “We think there is enough space in and around the villages to build extra homes. People come here because they want to live in a spacious and rural way and then you put a large lump of concrete in the polder. We think this is really a village too far. . “
Ferry van Wijnen of the VVD in Zuidplas responds positively. “If you want to achieve something with enough facilities, you have to aim for a certain volume.” The PvdA / GroenLinks would have preferred to see the existing cores expanded, but says they are happy “that after all this time there are concrete plans to start building”.
Flood risk
Nevertheless, the plans can be questioned. A number of gardeners in the area are refusing to leave for the time being. Moreover, the Zuidplaspolder is located at the lowest point in the Netherlands, more than six meters below NAP. The Spatial Planning Bureau in The Hague called the polder an “unfavorable location for investment” as early as 2007 and points to the risk of flooding of the two rivers in the area, the Hollandse IJssel and the Gouwe.
The municipality dismisses that objection. “The risk of flooding is extremely small. Due to measures taken by the water boards along our rivers and estuaries, the ‘dikes’ of the Rotterdam-Gouda railway line and the A20 motorway are a major obstacle.”
On April 15 there will be a first information meeting where residents of the four current villages can give their opinion. Should the village be built, a competition will follow for its name. For the time being, the municipality is working out the plans under the name ‘the fifth village’.
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