Rotterdam political leaders drop proposal to close airport to build 10,000 homes

The current coalition setting policy in Rotterdam has come out against plans to close the Rotterdam The Hague Airport, and build 10,000 new homes and a city park on the property and surrounding area over the long term. Two years ago, a group of five political parties including GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, PvdD and ChristenUnie came up with a plan to shut the airport in order to provide space to help fill the urgent need for new homes, while also improving air quality and green space in the city.

The decision should come as no surprise. The current coalition agreement states that the coalition parties Leefbaar Rotterdam, D66, VVD and DENK want to keep the airport open.

"We are doing this partly in light of the very recent survey about the opinions of Rotterdammers, which shows that two-thirds of Rotterdammers think it is important that Rotterdam has an airport. We will therefore not implement any initiatives to close it," the mayor and aldermen wrote to the full city council earlier this week.

The political leaders acknowledged that there is a great need for new homes, but believes that there is sufficient space elsewhere in the city to build the required minimum of 50,000 homes in the coming decades. Moreover, according to the mayor and aldermen, the costs are too high to purchase the land from Rotterdam The Hague Airport.

This is because the land was issued to the airport on a long lease that concludes in 2050. Many private companies are already established in the targeted area, all of which would also have to be bought out.

According to the airport, it will not be busier than usual this summer. There are no extra slots available for airlines. Most of the available slots for the winter season were used and the remaining unused slots will not be carried over from winter to summer, the airport said last week.

Rotterdam The Hague Airport is located on 220 hectares of land. The five parties who proposed shutting down the airport wanted at least one massive 60-hectare city park, which is twice as large as Het Park near the Euromast. The parties said it would also support the development of more affordable housing, while cutting down on noise pollution, and pollution caused by CO2 and nitrogen emissions.