Eindhoven City Council does not seem willing to simply approve a policy document on the future of Vaartbroek neighbourhood. The document mentions the demolition of homes as an option to ultimately add more homes in the Woensel neighbourhood. City politicians want to offer residents of the neighbourhood certainty.
Suppose that homes are demolished in Vaartbroek, then the current residents will have the right to be the first to return to the neighbourhood. Young people who still live at home and older people should also be given priority when moving to a home in the neighbourhood, according to CDA (christian democrats) party leader Remco van Dooren.
“Furthermore, promising alternative locations for new construction proposed by residents must be included in the document”, the CDA representative said. Van Dooren’s opinion is supported by many other parties, including fellow coalition parties PvdA (labour party) and D66 (democrats).
Eindhoven City Council debated Gebiedskader Vaartbroek (Vaartbroek area framework) on Tuesday evening. The document sets out the municipality’s ambition to add around 1,000 homes to the neighbourhood in collaboration with Woonbedrijf, while also further improving the quality of life. A week earlier, when fourteen residents of the neighbourhood spoke out, this topic led to a very emotionally charged evening.
The major concerns in the neighbourhood are the reason why City Council is not agreeing to the policy document without a fight. Opposition parties SP (socialist party) and 50PLUS want all passages in the document that refer to the demolition of homes around Amandelpark to be deleted.
More unrest
According to Alderman Mieke Verhees, in drawing up this revised area framework, she has done exactly what City Council asked her to do in November 2024. At that time, the council felt that the first version was not concrete enough.
“The whole of Vaartbroek is a search area. The locations currently listed are the concrete details you requested. If you say: include all locations, then you are essentially saying that demolition can take place throughout Vaartbroek, which will cause even more unrest”, Verhees said.
Alderman Mieke Verhees emphasised once again that adopting this document does not mean that a demolition decision has been made. “But the considerations we are weighing are complex. It’s about the big picture and the public interest versus the individual interests of residents”.
Welschap
According to FvD (Forum voor Democratie, forum for democracy) council member Nicolas Knoester, the situation that has now arisen in the Woensel neighbourhood was completely unnecessary. “You build in areas where there are no houses yet. But there is a constant refusal to do so”. As an example, Knoester cites the council decision on Welschap, where Municipal Council chose to use the old golf course as a nature reserve and event site, rather than for housing. “The traumatisation of the neighbourhood was unnecessary”, the FvD member said.
A decision on Gebiedskader Vaartbroek will follow on Tuesday, 30 September.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
