ANP
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Resident groups around Schiphol are starting a lawsuit against the Dutch state. They demand that the government protects them better against noise pollution and the emission of harmful substances. The case was already announced at the end of 2020, but is now actually being pursued.
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The local residents are united in the Right to Protection against Aircraft Nuisance (RBV) foundation. Who wants the government to adhere to the standards of the World Health Organization on aircraft noise. That noise leads to noise pollution and sleep disturbance for hundreds of thousands of local residents. Among other things, the foundation demands less flight movements.
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‘Juggling with numbers’
The timing of the subpoena is remarkable. Last month, Minister Mark Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management (VVD) announced that Schiphol 12 percent must shrink† The airport will be allowed to handle a maximum of 440,000 flights per year from 2023.
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But those plans are no reason for the foundation to withdraw their case. Local residents want Schiphol to shrink even more.
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“The number of 440,000 air transport movements is not motivated by the interests of local residents, but by Schiphol’s deemed necessary hub function,” says Channa Samkalden, lawyer of the foundation. She previously successfully filed a lawsuit against Shell in Nigeria for Milieudefensie. That number as a starting point “promises years of juggling figures, in which the local residents are once again the final point”, she says.
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Concrete improvements remain music of the future.
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Jan Boomhouwer, who lives near Schiphol and speaks on behalf of all local residents, is also sceptical. “A shrinkage is announced, but we think they are doing this under pressure from legal proceedings. Schiphol keeps promising improvements, but we as residents are always the child of the bill.”
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Through the judge
The local residents recently had a conversation with Minister Harbers. But apparently this could not reassure the residents of Aalsmeer, among others. “It is wonderful that the minister now says that he wants to do things differently,” says lawyer Samkalden. “But in the conversation, the State was not able to explain what protection residents can really count on. Concrete improvements remain in the future.”
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Residents near Schiphol have been complaining for years about noise nuisance and air pollution. Recently it turned out research by RIVM that local residents may have an increased risk of dying from cardiac arrhythmias due to ultrafine particles from air traffic. There may also be an increased risk of other cardiovascular problems.
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