Unwelcome letter to Minister Van der Wal: “I am very angry about this”

Mayor Mulder was in a committee meeting when the letter was released. He indicates that the dike around the Hedwigepolder can simply be dug. According to the Minister, the pollution remains within the standards. The publication came as a surprise to Mulder. “Suddenly one of the committee members said: I have news. Of course, that’s not how it should be. You don’t treat yourself that way. This is a polder which belongs to us.”

In response to the letter, the city council wants to study the documents on which the minister relies. If the Minister’s justification is correct, Hulst will join him and the waters will flow in the Hedwig in September or October.

But not everyone involved thinks that way. Ger van Unen, MP for the PS, thinks the minister is too myopic in her letter. “What has always been the most important subject for us is public health. And she goes completely beyond it because she does not find population screening interesting. Tomorrow, she will have a debate in the House of representatives and then we’ll hear what the House thinks about it.”

Magda de Feijter from Zaamslag also thinks so. She has been fighting against the depolder for sixteen years with the Red Onze Polders Foundation. “I am very angry about this. Who lets toxic substances enter a new nature reserve? If you make it a new area, it seems to me that you want to do it. And then you make sure that no polluted substances don’t come in.”

In the meantime, there is also a lawsuit in the Council of State, brought by the former owner of the Hedwigepolder, Gery de Cloedt. De Cloedt wants the decision to depolder the polder to be reviewed. “We still hope for that,” says De Feijter. “And in the meantime we keep our finger on the pulse, because we can’t put a polder under this toxic water?!”