A motion by the CDA faction in Oegstgeest about a reception location for status holders has led to so much outrage in recent days that the South Holland municipality and the local CDA have issued an official response today. The issue revolves around a ‘walking route’ of residents from the reception location to a nearby shopping street.
First back to Thursday evening: the municipal council of Oegstgeest then approved the arrival of 175 status holders and 75 ’emergency seekers’ to an empty building behind the town hall. Emergency seekers are people who urgently need housing.
The CDA did set some conditions. For example, “traffic movements of status holders and emergency seekers” through the district should be prevented as much as possible, said party chairman Eibertjan van Blitterswijk in the council meeting. This could be done by making agreements about the route to the nearby shopping street, according to the CDA.
This shopping area can be reached quickly from the reception location via the Wilheminapark street, where there are many villa homes. But according to the CDA, “a clear route” to the shopping street runs differently, says one motion of the party. Residents should be advised to take that alternative route, which is slightly longer.
Criticism
That proposal immediately led to a lot of criticism. Party chairman Karin Rosdorff of Hart voor Oegstgeest said in the council meeting that she got the feeling “of a bus where people who are white can sit in the front and people who are black in the back”, a reference to apartheid. “Are we really going to do separate signage for target groups who come to live there?”
CDA party chairman Van Blitterswijk objected to this. Earlier in the meeting, he had already said that his motion is trying to take into account the concerns of local residents. According to him, they are afraid that the reception location will lead to many extra movements in their neighborhood.
Concerns of local residents
The issue also led to outrage outside the city council, including ChristenUnie party chairman Gert-Jan Segers and Sylvana Simons van Bij1, who has asked parliamentary questions about it.
But according to Van Blitterswijk, the case has been taken out of context. “I find it hurtful and it hurts me that the story is now taking its course,” he added today Broadcaster West. “We try to give good conscience to people who are in need a roof over their heads. This requires support and so we want to take the concerns of the local residents seriously at the same time.”
In a statement which the CDA Oegstgeest has published today states that the party “takes serious offense” at the “reprehensible discriminatory associations that are being evoked”.
No prohibition
According to party chairman Van Blitterswijk, there is no prohibition for permit holders to walk through a specific neighborhood. “It is up to the alderman, in consultation with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), to see how the neighborhood can be taken into account”, Omroep West quotes him. “The councilor has promised that. This is now being singled out, while the context is not being looked at.”
The municipality of Oegstgeest also emphasizes today in a short response that there is no prohibition on a particular walking route. According to the municipality, the commission has indicated that it is “good practice that the COA guides its residents in this”.
The COA says in a response that it cannot and does not want to oblige residents to follow a specific route. “What the COA does at locations is indicating walking or cycling routes for its residents to, for example, the center or for children to the school. This is usually the shortest and / or the safest route. In the discussions between the municipality of Oegstgeest and the COA. this is what has been agreed and what will be further elaborated in the near future. “
–
