Green City

A beautiful green and sustainable city

Effective building in built-up areas:
More green and sustainable high-rise buildings.

We advocate greenery in new construction projects. We also believe that these projects should always be sustainable. Green building is important for several reasons. Not only for the ecology and climate, but also due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect and for the local food production, stress-reducing and health-promoting effects. We also see good options for vertical farming. We opt for beautiful, green and sustainable high-rise buildings, to use the built-up areas efficiently and to avoid building in green areas. Instead of new ‘star flats’, we would much rather see green, plant-covered flats.

Priorities

Wageningen is - and will remain - a small-scale green city
Effective building in built-up areas: more green and sustainablehigh-rise buildings
The municipality is slow, but could be much faster
Smarten up the area around the bus station and make it more efficient
Wageningen is a fortified town, so the historical structure must bepreserved
No exception policy for the WUR

Context

The municipality is responsible for the spatial appearance of the city and it does so through zoning plans. It arranges where we as a city build new residential areas or expand existing neighborhoods. In the zoning plans, the municipality determines which part is for houses, which part for nature and which part for industry. For example, in a zoning plan you will find whether you can start a business at your house and you can read which developments are planned for your district/neighborhood, such as a construction of a shopping complex.

Municipalities are also linked to higher authorities and existing regulations. For example, a Deltadijk dike will replace the Grebbedijk dike, whether we like it or not. We are also bound by the regulations of Rijkswaterstaat (no wind turbines) and Gelderland (natura 2000 protected areas network).

In Wageningen, approximately €8.5 million will bespent on housing. That's 8% of the total municipality budget of €106 million.

Priorities further explained

Wageningen is - and will remain - a small-scale green city

Many love Wageningen for its small-scale and green character. We do too. That’s why we want to maintain the nature areas, which webelieve are meant for ecology, biodiversity and recreation (sports, hiking, bird watching, gardening, etc.), and not for extending the built-up areas.

The municipality is slow, but could be much faster

We recently received a zoning plan from the alderman. The residents were only given 6 weeks to submit their views and objections. The alderman took 106 weeks to deliver the zoning plan to the council. We don't think that's reasonable. One of the slowing factors for the municipalities is that they say ‘maybe’ to everything. In politics it is very difficult to keep everyone happy if you say 'no'. We would rather not be popular but get things done fast and clear. This also applies to one of the enduring trajectories - participation. We believe that the municipal council should determine the broad outlines of zoning plans and let the residents debate on the details. Not the other way around. The past shows that this kind of participation is not time efficient.

Smarten up the area around the bus station and make it more efficient

Many bicycles are parked around the bus station.With the growth of Wageningen, the proliferation of bicycles can cause problems, especially if there’s not sufficient parking space. In plans to improve the Rooseveltweg/Lawickse Allee intersection, creating space for bicycles can be included to make the location more appealing. There are now 2 virtual reality exploratory projects for this location.

Wageningen is a fortified town, so the historical structure must be preserved

We deeply appreciate the history of Wageningen. Hence why we want to preserve the historical structures whilst we build new things! We believe that there should be more information about the history of Wageningen on the streets, so that others can appreciate it too.

No exception policy for the WUR

WUR is an important stakeholder in Wageningen and owns a lot of land. Nevertheless, we believe that WUR should not be granted any exceptions from municipality rules due to its strong position and importance. The WUR is a great organisation which enriches the city of Wageningen, however we would like to see that it has an inviting appearance for all.

No exception policy for the WUR

WUR is an important stakeholder in Wageningen and owns a lot of land. Nevertheless, we believe that WUR should not be granted any exceptions from municipality rules due to its strong position and importance. The WUR is a great organisation which enriches the city of Wageningen, however we would like to see that it has an inviting appearance for all.

Achievements 2018-2022

Pleaded for a city ecologist

Perhaps our most extraordinary and least recognized result of all. In the coalition (of which we are not part), it was decided that Wageningen will have an urban ecologist. What is special about this is that this was not mentioned in any of the election programs of other parties. An urban ecologist was only mentioned in our election manifesto. While others take credit, you can't read their election manifestos on it. At the end it doesn’t matter whose idea it was, it matters that Wageningen is becoming a bit greener again.

Advocated expansion of rules for housing construction

In recent years we have supported the plans for housing and tried to remove obstacles. Our clear choice has been to let go ofthe rules for appearance, such as height and shape. We also found participation less important. On the other hand, we have firmly adhered to the number of housing units and green, sustainable construction.

Less talking, more action in the city centre

Wageningen created avision in 2017 for the city centre, by and for the entrepreneurs of its citycentre. The municipality choose for talking about the new vision for the city centre instead of taking actionable steps. We believe that money can be spent better as municipality. We have repeatedly mentioned that we rather see thatthe municipality is working on painting the walls and organising the events, because as the city’s heart the city centre needs to be more lively and in motion.

Supporting the CultureActionplan

We support the development of the CultureActionplan. After the bankruptcy of the Venster wefind it important that de municipality takes on a coordinating role for cultural education and development

Contact Us

Do you have any ideas or suggestions for a greener Wageningen? Let us know by using the form below.

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