Residents of the village of Bant and the surrounding area have handed over more than 4000 signatures to State Secretary Eric van der Burg. The villagers do not want a second refugee shelter to be opened in their municipality, as the state secretary recently announced.
The government wants to build a second registration center in a meadow in Bant to relieve the pressure on the center in Ter Apel. But in the neighboring village of Luttelgeest, less than 300 meters away, there is also an asylum seekers’ center where about a thousand refugees reside.
Up to a thousand
In 2019, the municipality concluded an agreement with the government that a maximum of 1,000 asylum seekers would come to the Noordoostpolder municipality.
The residents and the municipal council believe that they are already doing enough with this. About a hundred people had come to an information meeting of the State Secretary and COA with that message. There was no massive protest.
Most concrete
Upon arrival, Van der Burg once again emphasized the importance of additional registration centers. “I need multiple sign-up locations and this is one of the locations and the most concrete location that comes to mind.”
The State Secretary did not answer the question whether the arrival of the application center will be pushed through, even if the municipal council later decides not to want this.
