Today, B&W announced in a letter to local residents that it does not honor the wish of the full council to locate regular and emergency shelters in two different locations. However, the emergency shelter will only move to De Cleene Hooge two years after the new asylum center comes into use, which is scheduled for July 2025. The emergency shelter will also not accommodate 250 refugees, as the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) wanted, but 150. The municipality does not promise that the new asylum center will disappear after fifteen years at the latest, which is also a wish of the entire council. B&W wants to make the decision about the maximum duration later, with the council’s wishes ‘providing direction’.
The Cleene Hooge AZC working group writes about this: “Despite the express wishes, reservations and concerns of the municipal council, speakers and local residents, B&W has chosen to go against all votes. The letter claims that the council’s input has been carefully taken into account. “, a statement that is at odds with reality. Emergency shelter remains unchanged, 150 refugees has always been the lower limit and the maximum duration of fifteen years has not been definitively determined, against the wishes of several parties.”
“Ignoring the voice of the people is, unfortunately, now known in this process. What is more poignant is that even the vast majority of the wishes and concerns of the entire municipal council, regardless of political color, are simply ignored. It is almost dictatorial to to completely silence our own council members, 25 speakers, an entire district and more than a thousand petition signers.”
According to the Cleene Hooge – AZC Working Group, the municipality has done everything from the start to ensure that De Cleene Hooge emerges as the best from its own research into various locations. “That feeling also exists in the municipal council. As long as that doubt hangs over the market, a decision should not be made. This issue is too important to ignore.”
2023-11-14 21:13:43
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