March 19, 2025 - Remarks by Alderman Van Stiphout to the Nuenen City Council at the March 13, 2025 council meeting.

"Since the application for an environmental permit for the construction of 3 distribution halls on Eeneind-West was made available for public inspection, there have been large protests, both in the media and on the streets. In particular, council and college are being urged not to grant the permit. All kinds of arguments are put forward for this, the latest being the article by the board of the Anna Hospital in Geldrop.

These calls and articles affect everyone, including the college. I would like to explain the specifics of the process of processing application and the role of the city council and the college in it.

The role of the city council is to adopt a zoning plan. For Eeneind-West, the council did so in 2015. This was not appealed at the time. In 2016, the zoning plan became irrevocable, meaning that all public participation, views and legal procedures were completed. The zoning plan, which includes the permitted building height, traffic and what may be built, is thus sealed, so to speak. It can no longer be changed and thus it is clear what may be built on that zoning in the future. 

This happened 10 years ago, and 10 years ago, therefore, the council's role was finished. 

The role of the college is to review building permit applications against this irrevocable, sealed land use plan. The city council has no role in this. The college may not amend the zoning ordinance and must review against the zoning ordinance. If the college tests against anything else, it is unlawful.

This is the situation and this is what the college is doing now. Again: the council has no role in reviewing the application and the college may not review anything other than the irrevocable zoning plan.

All municipalities in the Netherlands must do it this way and are also required to process a permit application. That is what the law stipulates. So if municipalities, in the case of an irrevocable zoning plan, test against new reports or other insights and assumptions, that is unlawful. So it is not allowed. 

This means that all appeals, new reports and insights other than the basic principles of the zoning plan belong not to the council (that could have been done 10 years ago), not to the college (as it may only review the zoning plan), but to the courts.

I realize this is unsatisfactory, but we cannot do otherwise. Fortunately, we live in a democratic rule of law in which the courts have the final say."

Following this explanation, the Alderman answered questions from council members. You can review the March 13 council meeting.

Feb. 25, 2025 - Opportunity to comment on annexes statement of no objections species protection distribution centers Eeneind-West.

On June 17, 2024, the Municipal Executive took a draft decision on the permit application for the realization of three distribution centers within the Eeneind-West planning area on the Collse Hoefdijk. This draft decision was available for public inspection for six weeks from Monday, June 24. During this period approximately 1,500 views were submitted.

A number of annexes belonging to the declaration of no objections for the nature protection component were not available for inspection together with the draft decision. It was therefore not possible to comment on the content of these annexes. The mayor and aldermen hereby give those who have previously submitted an opinion against the draft environmental permit distribution centers Eeneind-West the opportunity to respond to the documents. A reaction to the relevant documents can be submitted within two weeks after February 25, 2025. You can find all the information in the Municipal Gazette.

Jan. 29, 2025 - Update on note of views.

The note of views Eeneind-West, which contains the response to all submitted views, is unfortunately not yet complete. This is because answering some questions requires input from external parties. They have not yet submitted their answers to us. As soon as we receive the missing answers, we can review and analyze them and then finalize the memorandum of views.

At this time, therefore, it is not possible to give a concrete indication of when the college will be able to make a decision on the application for an environmental permit and the memorandum of views.

November 2024 - Start demolition of buildings

A contractor commissioned by the Municipality of Nuenen has started (preparations for) the demolition of several buildings on the Collse Hoefdijk. It concerns the buildings with house numbers 34, 38 and 40, which are located on the site where business park Eeneind-West is being developed. Demolition will start in November and is expected to be completed by mid-March 2025. House number 34 will be demolished first, then house number 38 and lastly house number 40. 

Demolition notice Collse Hoefdijk 34

Demolition notice Collse Hoefdijk 38

Demolition notification Collse Hoefdijk 40

Nov. 18, 2024 - Decision on WOO request for antecedent agreement Eeneind-West.

• Decision on WOO request antecedent agreement Eeneind-West

Draft decision on environmental permit for distribution centers Eeneind-West

On June 17, 2024, the Municipal Executive took a draft decision on the permit application for the realization of three distribution centers within the Eeneind-West planning area on the Collse Hoefdijk. The draft environmental permit decision for distribution centers Eeneind-West was available for public inspection for six weeks from June 24, 2024. During that period, the municipality of Nuenen received some 1,500 views from residents of Geldrop, Mierlo, Nuenen and Heeze, among others. This shows great commitment to this development.

All views were registered upon receipt and then carefully read. The arguments presented were then inventoried. Frequently mentioned arguments are undesirable traffic effects, damage to nature, incorrect assessment against the zoning plan and the relationship with environmental regulations.

The next step is the substantive response to the views. It is possible that this also requires some sorting out. We are giving this our full attention and have freed up extra capacity for this. We expect this process to take at least several months. 

Because more than 250 views were submitted, the submitters will not receive a personal response to their views. The General Administrative Law Act states that the municipality can then suffice with a general publication in the municipal gazette on overheid.nl. We will also publish this publication on the municipal website and in the municipal notices in the door-to-door newspapers.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen expects to make a final decision on the environmental permit later this year.