Schiphol Airport noise deemed fine for refugees, not students: Report

Construction rules don't allow student housing in Amstelveen below the Schiphol flight paths because the noise pollution from the airport would be too much for students. But the rules have no objection to building housing for refugees, asylum seekers, or other migrants in the area, Het Parool reports based on conversations with landowners in the area and the municipality of Amsterdam.

Last month the Council of State stopped the construction of 2,500 much-needed student homes and over 1,500 short-stay apartments for expat students in Kronenburg in Amstelveen. The Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) objected to the construction. The government virtually prohibited building housing there because it is right under the flight path to and from Schiphol's Buitenveldert runway. The rules are intended to protect the airport's activities and protect residents against noise pollution and unsafety.

But that protection apparently does not apply to refugees, two landowners in the area discovered. The companies Zadelhoff Vastgoed and Maarsen Groep now applied to construct container homes for refugees and expect no problems. 

Mayor Tjapko Poppens of Amstelveen also expects no issues with the flight regulations this time. "We have looked closely at the rules. It states that asylum seekers and other foreign nationals may be accommodated. There is also no time limit. But we do ask the inspectorate to confirm that first."

Zadelhoff and Maarsen had planned to build a student apartment building with 400 homes on the spot where the refugee accommodation will now be placed. More than a thousand candidates signed up for that housing when pre-registration opened in the spring, they said to the newspaper. 

Why the rules consider refugees less sensitive to noise pollution than students is unclear.