Coalition agreement 2022–2026

Program 1 - Living, working, and recreation

The municipality creates the conditions that enable our residents, entrepreneurs, and guests to live, work, and enjoy leisure activities in a pleasant environment. The focus is primarily on quality without losing sight of quantity.
The municipality ensures that the various functions/designations are chosen in such a way that areas do not interfere with each other or even reinforce each other.
The municipality takes a careful approach to all forms of organized leisure activities. We want there to be as much variety as possible, so that residents have a choice.

Living

Position 

The municipality must ensure that there is a suitable and sufficiently varied range of housing for all groups (the right balance) and spread across the centers according to affordability.

Vision

What we want to achieve is to maintain and improve the quality of life in the villages through appropriate growth.

Mission

  • Stimulate housing construction, develop housing plan based on housing vision 2022.
  • Deploying resources to create affordable housing for first-time buyers. In doing so, making use of the possibilities to allocate housing on a priority basis to those with social and economic ties.
  • In light of the aging population, sufficient housing for seniors will need to be provided. We are also looking into repurposing buildings for this purpose. We are open to initiatives for residential communities.
    Particular attention will be paid to: the new construction plan for Industrieweg in Dreumel, repurposing the SF Beton site in Appeltern, Henricus in Wamel, and Hey-Acker in Beneden-Leeuwen. Investigating the possibilities for the usefulness and necessity of repurposing recreational homes within the new 'recreation and tourism' vision currently under development..
  • In collaboration with the community centers, we ensure sufficient supply for people who need protection on the housing market. To be able to respond quickly, we will work with the community centers to provide temporary housing.
  • We provide housing in every community. The aim is primarily to maintain quality of life. As part of the environmental vision for communities, we will look for locations in every community. Particular attention will be paid to appropriate access and safer connections between new residential areas and communities. In Boven-Leeuwen, we will investigate whether relocating the sports fields is an option to meet the demand for housing.

Work

Position

Providing suitable (innovative) companies with space on available industrial sites.

Vision

Provide existing businesses with room for expansion. If necessary, facilitate possible relocation, thereby promoting employment.

Mission

  • Spread across the villages, we offer space for business expansion, which will require the expansion of our business parks through possible new locations. We also take into account retailers and self-employed professionals with home offices or workshops.
  • Give agricultural businesses room for innovation and side activities, such as reducing fossil fuel emissions. Existing agricultural businesses retain their rights; there is no room for new intensive livestock farming. The open countryside is the area that is primarily intended for our farmers. New developments (other than agricultural) must not block or restrict agricultural operations. Farmers who are ceasing operations must be encouraged to demolish their buildings to prevent deterioration and undermining.
  • View business associations as valuable partners in discussions seeking local initiatives that reinforce each other.

Accessibility

Position

Good accessibility of our municipality.

Vision

Maintaining good access from our municipality.

Mission

  • Preserving the Maas ferries and the foot ferry to Tiel is essential for the mobility of our residents and recreational visitors.
  • Investigate improvements to the accessibility of the Meuse side.
  • Continuous focus on access via St. Andries.
  • Route through traffic via national and provincial roads. Village roads should be used as much as possible for local traffic.

Recreation

Position

Promoting recreation and tourism.

Vision

Where possible, expansion of recreational areas and tourism.

Mission

  • Our municipality is attractive to tourists. We aim to expand our bad weather facilities so that the municipality continues to attract tourists outside the summer season.
  • We strive to offer as wide and varied a range of opportunities for sports and recreation as possible. These are provided by clubs and associations, but also by businesses. We give special priority to the preservation of the De Zeven Morgen swimming pool.
  • Investigations into possibilities for establishing an archaeological workshop for "Over de Maas."

Program 2 - Social affairs

The local community is much more than the sum of its residents. Connections between people add value to the community. People who know each other help each other, enrich each other's lives, and provide stimulation, relaxation, and enjoyment. The municipality cherishes the idea of a vibrant community.

The municipality therefore takes a careful approach to all forms of organized leisure activities; an active community life in which people can play sports, relax, exercise, help, and learn together. There must be variety so that there is something to choose from. The municipality has a facilitating role in this.|

Not everyone can always connect or stay connected to the community. The municipality wants as many people as possible to be able to stay connected and offers a helping hand in the form of funding for youth assistance, income support in accordance with the Participation Act and the municipality's own poverty regulations, and integration into our community.

The municipality wants to keep social facilities as close as possible to the neighborhood, allowing for smart combinations in the accommodation of schools, sports and recreation areas, medical posts, events, theater, café-restaurants, and outdoor sports facilities.

Lifestyle

Position

Promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Vision

Encouraging participation in social and sporting activities.

Mission

  • Contribution support for those for whom financial contribution may be a sticking point.
  • Promoting sports for a healthy lifestyle, whereby we want to make sports accessible to everyone and support clubs.
  • Promoting healthy eating and exercise, including in schools and institutions.
  • Promoting sports and cultural activities, events, and community life that encourage equality in support.

Recalibration of minimum wage regulations

Position

Everyone participates in society.

Vision

Support from the municipality, where necessary.

Mission

  • Determine how our current minimum income policy is being implemented and investigate whether distressing situations require extra attention. If this investigation gives cause to do so, the minimum income policy will be adjusted.
  • Focus on encouraging all children to learn to swim.

Silver power policy

Position

Promoting awareness of seniors and those in need of assistance (silver power policy).

Vision

Giving seniors and those in need the attention they require.

Mission

  • Becoming a dementia-friendly community.
  • Promoting suitable housing options for seniors who require assistance and care. Promoting more public restrooms.
  • Implementing an integrated approach to low literacy and low basic skills. Continuation of the Digi-Taalhuis (Digital Language Center).
  • Better communication through accessible information, simpler language, and an improved municipal website.
  • Make clear agreements with Vraagwijzer and stick to them.
  • Continue to focus on all informal caregivers through the current network of informal care support centers.

Youth

Position

Pursuing an active policy on youth development.

Vision

Getting kids and young people more involved in society.

Mission

  • Developing a comprehensive youth policy focused on prevention, raising awareness of substance use, and encouraging activity and positive positioning. Specifically, preventing substance use and undesirable activities.
  • Implementation of the Integrated Housing Plan (IHP). And within the IHP, also realize the necessary expansion of the IKC in Beneden-Leeuwen.
  • Creating dedicated meeting places for young people, equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots, for example. Working with young people, parents, schools, and youth workers to find a sustainable solution to these needs and then implementing it in a way that minimizes potential nuisance.
  • Encouraging activities between young people and politics.
  • Raising awareness of the importance of sustainability among young people.

Quality of life

Position

Continuously improving the quality of life in our municipality.

Vision

Achieving the best possible quality of life in every village.

Mission

  • Publication of all regulations and policies relating to support measures.
    In short: a transparent subsidy and guarantee policy.
  • Community centers and multifunctional buildings are important for the livability of our villages. That is why we want to create frameworks that lay the foundation and vision for financially sound community centers and multifunctional buildings. 
  • Encouraging the development of village platforms.
  • Research using an integrated approach to boost quality of life in Altforst.
  • Investigate the relocation of Scouting Dreumel from its current location to the site of the former pony club on Margrietstraat.
  • “Village concierges” who identify village issues—such as littering near underground containers and defects in sidewalks and green spaces—with additional social tasks. This can be combined with coordinating waste brigades in which Avri plays an active role.
  • Primarily assist with formalities (permits/notifications) in the realization of activities and provide support where possible.
  • Evaluate the current Vision for Liveability in Urban Centers 2030 and initiate the process of developing a Vision for Liveability 2050.

Program 3 – Physical living environment

We want to preserve the rural character of our living environment with more biodiversity in open spaces. In flowers/plants, shrubs, and trees. In addition, we combine tasks; tackling everything at once.

Roads and traffic

Position

Safe roads and traffic conditions

Vision

Improving road safety for all road users.

Mission

  • Focus on road quality and sidewalk policy by mapping road classification, associated maintenance regime, and current status. In doing so, strive to combine as many tasks as possible.
  • Make it easy to report incidents affecting road quality and immediately assign transparent priorities to them. In addition, coordinate or monitor road or safety issues in collaboration with road authorities, water boards, and/or provincial authorities.
  • We will investigate whether there should be more focus on the quality and safety of our roads and dikes (dikes in consultation with the Water Board). When roads are in need of maintenance, we will not only focus on safety, lighting, and parking, but also ensure a climate-adaptive design.
  • The Zandstraat area in Beneden-Leeuwen is the shopping center of our largest community. We are going to reconstruct this area in collaboration with stakeholders. This will result in an attractive, safe, and climate-adaptive village center.
    Dorpsstraat in Wamel will also regain some of its former glory. Here too, we will be working with local residents and residents to create a new layout.
    In addition, there are many streets for which a different look is desired in the village quality plans. Depending on the state of maintenance, we will tackle these one by one. Rooijsestraat in Dreumel is also on the agenda for the coming years.
    We are asking for extra attention to be paid to traffic safety and sufficient lighting for cyclists on Dijkgraaf de Leeuwweg and Trambaan in Boven-Leeuwen, among other places.
  • Updating sustainability policy to provide public charging stations for electric cars.
  • More attention to road safety near schools. Including Molenstraat in Boven-Leeuwen.
  • In collaboration with other parties, test whether shared mobility is an option at strategic locations where increased mobility is a possibility. The municipality plays a facilitating and supporting role.
  • Defining a clear policy in 2022 for the outstanding issues from the Rural Area Environmental Vision.
  • Beautification of village entrances, possibly in collaboration with village platforms.

Public green spaces and nature

Position

Continue to focus on climate-adaptive design in our municipality. We want to focus on quality and biodiversity.

Vision

There is space for all our residents to spend time in public areas. But nature is also given the opportunity to develop.

Mission

  • Creating more beautiful, vibrant, and diverse green spaces in a climate-adaptive way for people and animals.
  • Strive for sufficient greenery, as it provides cooling on hot days. Greenery also has a calming effect on the mind.
  • Research into climate-adaptive modifications to public spaces in our municipality.
    Particular attention will be paid to the village square at Ekershof Dreumel.
  • We ensure a good water balance. Flooding is prevented as much as possible. We also pay attention to the consequences of prolonged drought.
  • Our floodplains are our backyards. We remain in dialogue with the owners of these areas to keep the area accessible to everyone in a responsible manner.
  • Prevent sludge and contaminated soil from outside the municipality from entering our own municipality as much as possible.
  • Coordinating waste brigades, clean-up days, and beachcombing to reduce litter and other waste.

Sustainability and energy

Position

Striving to improve sustainability for the climate within legal frameworks.

Vision

Striving to improve sustainability.

Mission

  • Researching and implementing a strategy to support residents with lower incomes in insulating and making their homes more sustainable, taking into account the condition of the home.
  • A solidarity-based energy transition, in which we want to encourage solar panels on roofs and discourage wind turbines, with no wind energy until 2030 for the time being.
  • Taking responsibility for sustainable power generation and sustainability, involving and informing all target groups. This is to create a good framework for solar and wind energy. In doing so, we must also keep our eyes and ears open for other new technologies, such as aquathermal energy, which could be profitable in the future.
  • Encouraging the construction of new buildings suitable for solar panels.
  • Large-scale electricity generation frees up funds for improving the quality of life in our villages. We will investigate how we can achieve a fair distribution of these funds. This could be possible by setting up a quality of life fund.
  • Holding neighborhood discussions about our future, particularly about the energy transition.
  • We are open to innovative ideas for small-scale electricity generation. Enabling initiatives by companies to generate energy for their own use within certain frameworks. Consider, for example, the assessment by the spatial quality committee.
  • Water safety is important to us. To this end, we work together with the water board. Water storage, desiccation, and groundwater levels are important factors in this regard.

Program 4 - Citizens, government, and security

We want the municipal organization to offer accessible, high-quality services to residents. We want a "basic infrastructure" for participation (for citizens, council members, aldermen, and civil servants).

Safety

Position

Everyone can rely on a municipality where safety is guaranteed.

Vision

A safe community.

Mission

  • Greater visibility of neighborhood police officers for a manageable working area.
  • Continue to ensure comprehensive AED coverage and train first responders.
  • The municipality supports the VRGZ in expanding or filling vacant positions through recruitment campaigns for more volunteer firefighters.

Citizen participation

Position

Giving citizen participation our full attention.

Vision

Citizens should become more involved in municipal affairs and issues that affect their community or are likely to change it.

Mission

  • Implement policies that establish the basic participation infrastructure.
  • We are reaching out to our residents; there will be mobile neighborhood and district visits.
  • Focus on more intensive cooperation with business associations.

Program 5 – Business Operations

Our municipality is an information-driven organization, where available and reliable information ensures better, faster, and/or more comprehensive services. A readable budget and annual report, suitable for management by the council but also for accountability to our residents.

Municipal services

Position

The municipality is there for its residents.

Vision

Improving municipal services.

Mission

  • A more service-oriented municipality, by, among other things, better assisting our residents with problems and communicating clearly.
  • Communication to all citizens in understandable language, including the website and KCC.
  • Publish maintenance plan for roads and green spaces.
  • Evaluation of the municipality of West Maas en Waal as a coordinating municipality. This should clarify whether the municipality is adequately fulfilling this responsibility.
  • Encouraging information-driven working by setting up a knowledge catalog. This will result in a greater focus on working more efficiently.

Finance

Position

Financially responsible municipality.

Vision

Financial policy robust, but focused on service provision.

Mission

  • Budget and annual report that aligns with the municipal council's vision by using the spring memorandum as a perspective memorandum to recalibrate political frameworks.
  • Financial management monitors and reports on the municipality's income and expenditure. In doing so, it raises awareness among the council and ensures that the council is clear about the consequences of its decisions in advance.

City Council

Position

Achieve a stronger position for the city council.

Vision

A city council that stands up for its residents to the fullest extent possible and represents their interests optimally.

Mission

  • Continue to focus on dualism. The council sets the framework, and the mayor and aldermen fill it in. The council then supervises and addresses the municipal executive if necessary. The council also provides guidance by means of the Long-Term Agenda.
  • Take an active role in the various joint arrangements in the Rivierenland region, Gelderland-Zuid region, and where possible, collaborate with neighboring municipalities.

The agreement

Thus agreed on the date: April 26, 2022

Mr. P. van Zwolgen
Chairman FD West Maas & Waal

Mr. W. Jagtenberg
Chairman of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) West Maas en Waal