Local residents continue to agitate against Euregio gardens in Oostburg, council members are angered

Of course, the people have the democratic right to oppose the preliminary zoning plan of Regiopark Oostburg, like the new name of the Euregiotuinen in Oostburg, and to exercise the right to express their opinion. But the board member Quaak must have been happy. “At a certain point, resistance arises, because it is always the same story.”

The interests are excellent

However, the interests are great for the parties. This is their residential and living environment, which they say is at risk if leisure entrepreneur Eric van Damme is allowed to set up a leisure park and hold multi-day festivals there. They fear noise pollution, which is not limited to five events per year, with some dismissing objections from the neighborhood. Resident Lieske Govaert came, after all, 27 days a year. In addition, there are the numerous small events such as fairs, with which the municipality, according to it, gives “a license” to the entrepreneur. “I wonder if you love your neighbor so much that he throws a party in his garden every weekend,” she addressed the committee members. “Then you can call the police, we can’t.”

“ Hunt ” nature

The nature which has been able to develop freely over the past twenty years and which the Euregio gardens are now empty is also being destroyed, they believe. “We all want more nature and wildlife and here we are going to scare it off with the noise and the crowds,” Govaert said.

The neighbor De Rooij refers to Bosvisie in which Zeeland indicates that 425 hectares of forest will be realized. “What a waste it would be if the Euregio Gardens are not included here. There are a few hectares ready for use.”

De Rooij has known “on the part of various authorities only disinterest and sometimes intimidation” instead of seriously considering “what lies ahead”. “Was Van Damme’s choice meant to quickly get rid of a headache file or are there maybe all kinds of lines?” Councilors Arnold Scheppers of Village Interests and Tourism and Sebastiaan Keijmel of Independent West demanded that the speaker clarify this allegation, but he kept his mouth shut.

Pick up the phone yourself

The municipality is currently taking an inventory and processing the 28 objections submitted. In the meantime, the objectors are worried about the radio silence of the initiator, who would not have updated them personally. Jan Elfrink from PvdA and Marian van Oostenbrugge from Nieuw Gemeentebelang believed that people could also make contact themselves. “You can also pick up the phone yourself.”