Once again, permits for housing projects have been stalled due to the nitrogen problem. There is also uncertainty about the validity of the tens of thousands of permits that have already been issued.
The Haarlem judge ruled last Friday that lowering the speed limit on the highway from 130 kilometers per hour to 100 kilometers per hour may no longer be used to emit more nitrogen elsewhere, creating a so-called nitrogen vacuum. As a result, the future of permits for tens of thousands of homes has become uncertain.
nitrogen bank
Governments collect the nitrogen space that is released in the nitrogen cap system. They can also ‘take’ nitrogen space from this nitrogen bank, so that projects can still be carried out without permission.
So far, speed reduction has been the only measure that adds a nitrogen field to the nitrogen bank. This allowed governments to give the green light to nearly 33,000 homes.
163 of these homes were to be built in Egmond aan den Hoef, but the court in North Holland withdrew the permit last week. This decision could have important implications, as the licensing of an additional 33,000 homes also appears to be illegal. It is not known what will become of all these houses.
Van der Wal is already suspected
Earlier this month, Minister Van der Wal of Nature and Nitrogen had already banned the use of the bank’s nitrogen field, because of doubts about its legal sustainability. For example, it has proven difficult to determine nitrogen gain, because the number of cars on the road has changed drastically during the corona crisis.
Also, not all nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas seem to benefit from this measure. In some of these natural areas, reducing the speed actually causes more nitrogen precipitation, as drivers sometimes use other roads approaching sensitive areas.
These findings now challenge the government’s high housing ambitions. Other nitrogen space is not immediately available to facilitate housing projects. In time, the acquisition of pig farmers will provide additional space for the nitrogen bank, but this will only benefit the acquired farmers in housing projects in the south and east of the Netherlands.
However, switching back is not an issue. The minister’s spokesman says that the remaining nitrogen field of the measure benefits nature.
Source: NOS
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