Calls to scrap plans for new Schiphol runway for housing construction

Coalition party D66 wants to scrap plans for a second Kaag-runway at Schiphol airport and use the land reserved for it for something else, like housing construction. "If you are realistic, you can wonder whether growth at Schiphol is at all possible. The problems with our environment, the climate and noise pollution are too great. So an extra runway is not an option," D66 parliamentarian Raoul Boucke said to NOS.

The government reserved the area north of the village of Rijsenhout, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, until 2024 to construct a new runway that runs parallel to the current Kaagbaan. The reservation dates back to 2009. In 2016, Schiphol published drawing board plans for the new runway. But the chances of it being built in the coming years are virtually non-existent. 

The municipality of Haarlemmermeer has been asking the government for some time to make a decision about the plot of land. It is currently sitting there unused, and the possible arrival of a runway and its accompanying noise pollution have been hanging over the market for years. Residents are leaving Rijsenhout. "The bakery will soon have to close its doors, and the football team can no longer get a team together," Jurgen Nobel, VVD alderman in Haarlemmermeer, said to NOS.

The VVD in Haarlemmermeer and local party HAP both have scrapping the plans for the parallel Kaabaan in their election programs for the municipal elections in March. Both want to build houses on the land reserved for the runway. 

Minster Mark Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management told parliament on Friday that the problems around Schiphol are too complicated for a quick decision. He said that finding a solution for the stricter rules around nitrogen emissions, noise pollution, and nuisance will take months. Schiphol is also advocating for the government not to make any irrevocable decisions about the second Kaag runway this year.