Mayor Rianne Donders van Roermond says she has no solution for the nuisance caused by bargain hunters who want to visit the outlet center in her city. Local residents are fed up with the crowds and want the municipality to intervene.
“We ourselves cannot enter or leave the village at busy times. People are unfriendly and our parking spaces are used, often by cars with foreign license plates,” says Charlotte van Dijk-Pieters. She is chairman of the Leeuwen Village Committee, a town with 1100 inhabitants in the municipality of Roermond, right next to the outlet center. She is now ringing the bell on behalf of residents of the village.
“On Ascension Day we counted for an hour how many cars were driving through Leeuwen: that were 261 cars. We try to deal with them as well as possible, but we experience the inconvenience firsthand. Due to the holidays and spring holidays, in combination with the corona measures, there has been a huge shopping spree. “
Eight million visitors
The outlet receives about eight million visitors a year. This sometimes leads to traffic jams, but never as much as was the case last Whitsun weekend. Hundreds, if not thousands, of shoppers used their days off to drive to the Designer Outlet stores in their car. Among them were many German day trippers.
In order to comply with the corona measures despite the crowds, only a limited number of people were left on the site. For example, the one and a half meters distance had to be better preserved.
Outside this led to major inconvenience. Roads silted up and wild parking was everywhere in the neighborhoods around the outlet center, to the annoyance of local residents.
No measures
The neighborhood wants action from the municipality of Roermond, but mayor Donders says he cannot do anything. “If there is a measure that can change the behavior of the buying tourists, I would use it immediately. But there is none,” said Donders. The mayor points out that all stores in the Netherlands may be open as usual and the Designer Outlet is no exception.
However, the municipality is trying, in collaboration with the brand village, to get a grip on the influx of visitors, says Donders. This is done, among other things, by placing signs next to the access roads. They warned about the crowds and called on people to stay at home, especially on public holidays, writes 1Limburg.
Donders’ intentions are not enough for local residents. Van Dijk-Pieters says that residents do not feel heard and do not understand why ideas from the village are not listened to. “As a municipality, talk to the buying tourists and the residents of Leeuwen. Talk to us. We do not want to experience this again. We are extremely frustrated”, says the chairman.
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