Judgment 202106284/1/R4 – Council of State

Temporary accommodation for status holders in Haarlem

Statement on the environmental permit granted by the municipal executive of Haarlem for 162 temporary accommodation and a cultural and social space on the Dijkzichtlaan near Delftplein. This is a ten-year permit for holders of habitation status. The administrative litigation section of the Council of State already ruled on this issue in 2019. At the time, it concerned an environmental permit for 160 temporary dwellings and four cultural and social spaces. In this case, the initiator and the city council appealed to the administrative litigation division against a judgment of the district court of Noord-Holland. In this decision, the court considered that the city council should have followed a so-called extensive procedure. The court therefore ordered the city council to make a new decision. In its judgment of September 4, 2019, the administrative litigation chamber confirmed this. The houses had already been built at that time. In June 2021, the city council again granted an environmental permit. The building plan has been modified from the original application; for example, several cultural and social spaces were demolished to make way for two new dwellings. A number of local residents disagree with the new environmental permit and have appealed to the Administrative Jurisdiction Division. They raised objections about the consequences of the construction plan on parking pressure, road safety and quality of life in the area. The Administrative Litigation Section heard the case on September 5, 2022.