Regular camping guests have to leave in a hurry: ‘I have nowhere to go’

The sadness is high among the regular camping guests of camping Mattenburg in Nieuw-Vossemeer. They have to be gone within six weeks, with the chalet and all. The power supply is no longer in order. But the camping guests think that the fork is very different: “New, more expensive chalets have to come in return.”

It is not the first time that regular camping guests, with so-called annual pitches, have to make way for more luxurious and more expensive chalets. In Ulicoten, Oisterwijk in luyksgestel the sadness and anger were also great a year ago.

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Ria and Rinus Warner from Rotterdam have been camping in Nieuw-Vossemeer for 46 years. The two stay there almost all year round. This Monday morning they are looking around in their front garden. ”The intention is that the entire campsite will soon be empty and that there will be tiny houses for coming back,” says Rinus. ”No more affordable holidays for Jan with the cap”, adds Ria.

The new owner is unreachable on Monday, but according to the residents he wants to fix things up. Something everyone applauds. Sandra de Prez from Sint-Willebrord has been at the campsite with two chalets for sixteen years. ”We were initially happy with the new owner. Old caravans were demolished and there were glamping tents (luxury camping tents, ed.) in return.”

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Ideal, Sandra thought: ‘Leave all the good chalets standing and demolish the dilapidated caravans. And then nice tents in return, that is also to our advantage.” But that is where the misery started for the seventy tenants of annual pitches.

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“There has been very little maintenance here in recent years,” Prez continues. “The power boxes are fifty years old. They aren’t safe, but we’ve never had any problems with them. Now that the new tents have to be connected to it, the owner will have problems with insurance.”

Rinus Warner understands that: ”What do you want, everything is tied together here. That’s what the owners of the campsite have done, everything is in order with us inside.”

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Just replacing the cupboards, as suggested by the camping guests, is not an option for the owner. “We were told on Friday that we have to leave by March 1. That is not easy. That’s not allowed,” says Sandra de Prez, who is still angry. “He has to give us at least a year. But because of so-called safety, we have to leave immediately.”

Ria Warner has a stomachache from it. “I have lost 4.5 kilos since Friday morning. The sadness is really high.” Her husband Rinus understands that something must be done to make it safer. “I asked if we could come back when everything is ready. But no, that’s not an option. Only own chalets are used in return.”

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“We’re not packing yet,” says Ria. She mainly wants to wait for the consultation with the owner. On Thursday afternoon, everyone gathers in a large shed to put the owner to the test. “We’ve heard that a bulldozer is coming if we’re not gone.”

Sandra, meanwhile, doesn’t know what to do. ”I’m here with two large chalets. I can’t go anywhere. We have already called campsites but there is simply no room.”

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