The new college in Maple will change: Sunday shopping and close to the sports fields

Maple has a new kidney. Sterk Meppel, VVD and the D66 all succeeded in striking an agreement. Over the next four years, the parties, with two new members of the House of Representatives, will work under the heading “Work in Progress”. What this app would look like stays open: It’s a deal without hard data. “The entire city council should think,” it seems unanimous.

With presidential charisma, Edward Annen led the press conference on the new council agreement. Temptations that he himself wants to knock out as quickly as possible. He almost takes cuteness as an insult. “I’m the leader of the biggest party in Maple, so people see my face, but that doesn’t suit my personality. I love dialogue and conversation.” Show this moan by word and deed. Everyone chats and pats are distributed everywhere, especially to members of the opposition. They were all on the show and moaned so happy, because there’s been some grumbling in that corner lately.

There is even room for self-loathing. When a member of the opposition leaves with an announcement that he will read the convention at home, he jokes, “You won’t need more than fifteen minutes for that,” jokes a moan. This refers to the thin alliance agreement between Sterk Meppel, the VVD and the D66. Some council members complain about that. “Well, that’s not good either,” said Moan with a little anger. If they make a big plan, they are angry, if we leave all the space open too.”

Only GroenLinks does not want

Because leaving all the space open, that’s what moan wants. For two reasons. On the one hand, he believes that it is important for all parties to be able to express their views. That was why he wanted to work with an alliance as small as possible. With 13 out of 23 seats, the new coalition already has a slim majority, while some parties really wanted to rule in Maple. “They all wanted to get involved except for GroenLinks,” says Anin. “The opposition is a big part of Maple. The more parties in the house, the less the opposition is heard. That’s why we want a small majority.”

It also saves Meppel money. “An extra party also means an extra alderman and that only costs €200,000 in salary and all the other extra costs like official support. It’s not possible in a narrow grant municipality like Mappel.” The matter was briefly discussed to grant Stirk Maple a second alderman. This would be a good reflection of the seating distribution (the Sterk Meppel has seven seats and is therefore larger than the VVD and D66 combined). “But we don’t do it because of the costs,” says Anin.

strong discussions

Another reason to keep the coalition agreement weak is that the parties did not come to an agreement everywhere. For example, the parties have very different views on port expansion. “We had to taste each other’s kidneys,” laughs Moan. “VVD is for, we are against. We’ve had strong discussions about this. We can’t work it out.” That is why it has now been agreed to wait for the ongoing investigations into the consequences of the port expansion and then put it to a vote in the city council. With this, Stirk Maple, who is staunchly opposed to expanding the port, takes a risk. “If the majority of the board wanted it, it would be built on OverS,” says Anin. “It can be done.”

What is clear is that some things will change in Maple. Shops are open on Sundays. This clearly shows that the Christian Democrats no longer participate in government. “This actually wasn’t possible with the CDA,” says new alderman Claas de Vries. “Shops are opening. Not without limits, we will put frameworks. But getting a sandwich in the bakery will be possible.”

Fewer social rental homes

In addition, the proportion of rental social housing is limited to thirty percent. Stirk Maple insisted that four out of ten newly built homes should be for social rent. This will be less in the next four years, but according to the Commission, research shows that more is not necessary.

More attention is also paid to cyclists. Another topic in which VVD “car party” and “bike party” Strick Maple oppose each other. So there won’t be a car-free center, but other ideas are being worked on to make cycling more enjoyable. “For example, better cycling paths from the surrounding villages and neighborhoods to the center,” says Anin. “Or the priority for cyclists on the roundabouts. The bike is our top priority.”

Creative with a limited budget

The college also wants a new mindset in solving problems. An example is Sports park Ezinge. A drastic overhaul is needed, according to the three football clubs who live there. That’s why politicians visited clubs this weekend. A concrete example of a difficult situation: Mabel has little or no money, even informants said. However, Alderman De Vries wants to rectify this. “There is no money, everyone understands that. But we have to look at it differently. Sometimes change also produces money. We can then invest that money. We will creatively look at all possibilities and perceive things that way. If associations come up with ideas, they can trust us to do something with them.”

All changes are initiated by partially new faces. There are two new members of the Alder Council in Maple. On behalf of the mighty Mabel, this is Class de Vries. He will be responsible for, among others: Finance, Public Space, Economy and Traffic. Alongside him, Janet Buss (D 66) will work in the fields of sports, education and culture. Robin van Olzen (VVD) has also been an alderman in recent years. Over the next four years he will be responsible for housing, spatial planning, city center and events.

The farmer

What is new is that the social sphere has been divided among the members of the three councils. For example, De Vries is in charge of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), while Bos is in charge of youth welfare and is a Van Ulzen board member in Participation (Income) Law.

In four years, she hopes to have made great strides. “We think cycling is important, so I hope that the bike paths will be arranged perfectly by then. And that we have made a decision about the port. But above all I hope we have contributed to the confidence of the people. I really hope so. Over the four years Next time they’ll see us more than people used to. We’re going out to the farm.”

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