Plans for asylum shelter in Vlaardingen delayed over bats in the buiding
The municipality of Vlaardingen has had to delay plans for an asylum shelter on Zuidbuurtseweg by at least six months. Signs of bats were found in the farmhouse on the site. Their presence needs to be confirmed, and they’ll have to be rehomed before the building can be demolished and the asylum shelter can be built, Omroep Twee reported.
The possible presence of bats came to light during a flora and fona quick scan, an ecological study conducted prior to construction. A subsequent study should provide more clarity about whether bats actually live in the old farmhouse on the site, known as Zuidbuurthoeve.
But the follow-up study can only be done between May and September, delaying the process by several months. And if there are bats in the building, they’ll have to be rehoused before the asylum agency COA can apply for an environmental permit, one of the permits needed to demolish the buiding and build an asylum shelter in its place.
If all of this goes according to plan, the asylum shelter could open in the summer of 2027. The original plan was to open the shelter by the end of next year.
During an information meeting in September, the COA revealed that the farmhouse on Zuidbuurthoeve will have to be demolished because it was not suitable for housing people. This caused unrest among locals, who believed the farmhouse was a monument. However, this proved not to be the case.
