Municipal Elections 2024: Key Issues | Joop

The municipal elections revolve around just one topic: None (or yes) an asylum seekers’ center in our municipality. Klikbeet recently noticed this, and not alone. Because the right-wing parties will continue to insist on the reception of asylum seekers on the road to March 18, whether or not to divert our attention from other and more important problems. Therefore, here are a number of points of interest that you could consider in your vote.

Nature problems. How do the parties feel about filling in ditches, illegally felling hedgerows and involving roadsides on agricultural land? Do they have a policy against agricultural poisons, for example in lily cultivation? Against mega stables and ditto slaughterhouses? Manure policy? Do they encourage organic farming?

What are their views on fireworks and polluting pyres at New Year’s Eve and Easter? What do they think of mini nuclear power plants, solar parks and wind turbines? And the Ministry of Defense can do whatever it wants in nature reserves? Do they allow campers with tents and caravans to be chased away from their pitches for luxury holiday homes?

Traffic. Are there enough roads with a safe maximum speed? 30 and 60 instead of 50 and 80? Enough cycle paths? Pedestrian protection? Can children play outside? Is there a policy against nuisance caused by fat bikes, scooters and motorcycles?

Do they encourage public transport? Do they oppose tendering for bus transport to American and Israeli companies?

Energy. Are sustainable energy cooperatives encouraged? Subsidies given for energy transition and sustainability of buildings?

Living. If I am honest, this subject is often mentioned these days, and not only in the context of ‘status holders who always get priority’.

Direction from the municipality or project developers? What about the leasehold? How do the parties deal with vacancy? Enough homes for starters and for social housing? Topping up, renovating and adding in the built-up area? No parking space, so no home? Building in floodplains and other areas that will be flooded in the future?

Concern. What about the vulnerable groups? Do the parties grant local care to cowboys? Do they protect migrant workers? Do they receive homeless people with dignity? Do they provide affordable childcare? Can women safely walk to an abortion clinic?

Representation. Enough women on the council? Also otherwise diverse? Is there a cultural policy? Do the parties want to get away from the American tech mafia? Do they still meet – despite a national ban – in closed meetings where residents and journalists are not allowed? Is there so-called ‘intermunicipal cooperation’, in which the council is formally sidelined?

Look not only at the creation of municipal laws and regulations, but also at their enforcement. Do municipalities enforce at all? Do they tolerate violations or throw around exceptions? Will they yield to threats of legal action? Do they bow to the big players such as the agro-industry and all those local tatas and chemourses?

Do they accept the policy of higher authorities or do they use the opportunity to criticize The Hague? For example, persisting against the opening of Lelystad International Airport, like Zwolle? Or the brave Brummen councilor who is no longer allowed to refuse the extremely polluting steel slags from Tata van Den Haag and will not accept that.

Also think of all the municipalities that protest against the inadequate resources to fulfill their tasks assigned by the national government. Housing, care, benefits, etc. This will only get worse in the coming year.

Anyone who works on these topics for his or her municipality will not be surprised to find that, in addition to the far right, the coalition parties of ‘Fop Jetten I’ also make the cut. As do many local parties, which are usually an even more populist variant of VVD and CDA.

But rest assured, voter: there are certainly parties in your municipality that want to seriously tackle many of the above problems.