The newly formed municipal coalition in Ridderkerk presented its governance agreement on Wednesday, outlining plans to prioritize local residents for housing and allow shop owners to open on Sundays after two months of negotiations.
The alliance, consisting of Partij 18PLUS, VVD, and GroenLinks, aims to construct at least 1,000 new homes during the upcoming council term by partially transforming industrial estates into residential zones.
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Housing and Energy Goals
"There is a great need for affordable owner-occupied homes and mid-priced rental homes for different target groups in Ridderkerk.
We want to build for starters, seniors and people moving up the housing ladder," said Timo Ringlever, floor leader of VVD Ridderkerk.
The coalition intends to expedite the energy transition and resolve grid congestion to ensure new properties receive adequate electricity connections while continuing a local housing allocation model.
"In addition, we find it important that there is a mix of different homes.
There is a high demand for smaller apartments and studios, for example," said Björn Ros, floor leader of GroenLinks Ridderkerk.
The accord states that houses offered through the allocation instrument must be reserved for local house hunters to the maximum extent.
Safety measures include expanding local enforcement officers (boas), penalizing parents of repeat youth weapon offenders, and retaining the local police station on Kievitsweg.
To bypass localized asylum seeker reception quotas under the Spreidingswet, the parties plan to trade their statutory asylum allocation with other municipalities by taking in a larger portion of displaced individuals from Ukraine instead.
