Coastal Provinces give Camp lambast – Trouw

Tirza van der Graaf – 04/29/15, 6:45

© ANP. Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp arrives at Parliament Buildings for the wekelijkste Ministers, Friday.

Minister Henk Kamp (VVD, economic affairs) had a lousy day yesterday. To his irritation, the House spoke out against gas drilling in Terschelling and before the burden of proof for damage caused by gas extraction in Groningen. And in the Hague Nieuwspoort press center turned coastal communities against his plans to build wind farms off the coast. Their view is ruined, they think. Bad for employment, a disaster for tourism.

The coastal towns Noordwijk, Katwijk and Zandvoort see nothing in the advent of many turbines for the door. Currently there are already wind farms in the area, 22 kilometers away from the beach. But the minister has appointed new locations, at 18.5 kilometers from the coast, and therefore closer to the beach. In this way Camp will meet the targets of the energy agreement, which states that in 2023 16 percent of all energy must be generated from renewable sources.

The state examined how the new wind farms come to look out from the beach. The pictures are the windmills in the distance, with the naked eye almost imperceptible. That’s true of anything, say the authorities. They made new images of the parks, containing many recognizable mills.

It reveals the aldermen Pieter Jan Barnhoorn (D66, Noordwijk), Gerard Kuipers (D66, Zandvoort) and Jacco Knape (SGP, Katwijk ) great concern. That’s why they came yesterday to The Hague in a last attempt to influence parliament.

If the wind turbines are built at this distance, municipalities, reasoning they are visible from the beach. The views of the visitors will be spoiled in this way, and they will decide not to come to the coast. That means less tourism, less revenue for the beach pavilions and thus less employment.

According to the municipalities, the loss of 65 million euros less revenue per year, equivalent to a loss of 1,500 jobs. To prevent this, the aldermen would prefer that the windmills are built off the coast of IJmuiden, a field 60 kilometers away from the beach and therefore out of sight.

According to an MP Liesbeth van Tongeren (Green) the figures are correct about the job loss is not. “If there are new parks built this just creates many additional jobs.” The concerns of the pavilions can understand them.

The Zandvoort alderman Kuipers hopes that, now that their own research is presented, there is more understanding of the situation of the municipalities. “We know our numbers and hope that something happens to them. But now we have done what we could. In the end, the Hague so decides.”