Last week, this newspaper published a report on the committee meeting in Heerenveen City Hall regarding the distribution of Vitaly Kernen Fund funds to four villages in the municipality. The article began with the phrase “Dipwarne complains”. This is actually a shame. Because Diporne didn’t want to complain at all.

The legacy of Boarnsterhim Municipality is an accumulation in developing opportunities and resources available to Aldeboarn. Most of the buildings in Boarn have been stripped of their economic function, and all tourist activities have been changed. Nothing was possible and nothing was allowed, and every bottom-up initiative was always suppressed. This changed with the reorganization in 2014, as we became part of Heerenveen municipality.

Citizen participation

Heerenveen Municipal Council was fully committed to citizen engagement and creating space for the realization of local plans – also in the future. The Vitale Kernen Fund was established in 2017, with the aim of facilitating future initiatives from the community to develop village centers, in order to create additional financial space in addition to regular (late) maintenance resources. After all, when you ask citizens to participate, there has to be money for that too, or so the idea was.

Aldeboarn, along with Jubbega, Akkrum, and Heerenveen, is one of four specific cores that can count on this box.

The reader will understand: Aldeboarn is happy with Heerenveen. So why does Diporne seem to be complaining now?

A recent committee meeting took place where the distribution of funds was discussed. In December 2020, this split was proposed as follows: 70 percent for Heerenveen, 15 percent for Akrum, 10 percent for Jobega and 5 percent for Aldborn. Two percentages have changed in the committee meeting pieces: Jubbega 11% and Aldeboarn 4%. Sounds like a slight difference, but it’s 20 percent less budget. Have villages been played against each other here? Why did not you communicate with Aldeburn? What are the criteria by which our village will be cut by at least 20 percent?

Thematic main characters

Various economic criteria have been used in allocating funds. On the one hand, on the basis of objective key figures and on the other hand on the basis of an indication of the current position problems and the expected future perspective. For both the indicators and the central problem, the focus is mainly on the spatio-economic context. For Heerenveen, Akkrum and Jobega, this makes sense given their territorial function. However, such an approach is not suitable for Aldeboarn.

Our village does not have a central location with a great variety of jobs, as is the case with other centers. However, this was not a reason why Aldeboarn was not listed in Vitale Kernen’s fund. On the contrary: although it is difficult to limit Aldeboarn’s unique location in this economic setting, the close-knit community and strong urban structure with many monuments and rich history make our village the pearl of Heerenveen. So the vitality of Aldeboarn Center should be put in a different perspective, in line with our own qualities and our rich potential. Anyone who takes this into account should conclude that a 20 percent discount in the distribution is completely undesirable and that 5 percent of the fund is an absolute minimum.

The vitality of the Aldeborne Center should be put from a different perspective

The distribution of funds, which is of course the distribution of scarcity, requires objective criteria.

Have a fish climb up a tree, and it fails. Don’t ask a village that doesn’t have a regional job, because it was never allowed, for a regional job. The Heerenveen Center has a large vacancy rate and therefore, especially considering the additional problems caused by the aura, it needs to be activated. Aldeboarn Village has enormous potential and is catching up to develop village-level initiatives to improve the quality of life. Developing the center’s vision is just the beginning for us.

The Vitale Kernen Fund was created to provide scope for future developments and plans. Not allowing the nuclei that initially developed the plan to get the most out of fate. Now betting on 70 percent of the Heerenveen Center fund – because there is a costly scheme that requires at least that contribution – is unfair to neighboring villages. Aldeboarn calls for a redistribution that does justice to the urgency of centers in the countryside.

Signal

The distribution will be determined during the council’s meeting next Thursday. If the municipality of Heerenveen does not want to play small villages against each other, it will not take this one percent from Aldeboarn for Jobega, but from Heerenveen. The difference between 20 percent less to spend or seventy (1.4 percent) is not only worth reconsidering from a budget point of view, but also as an indication that the municipality is taking all of its villages seriously.