Katwijk municipal council gives provisional green light for Eli Lilly pharma factory
The Katwijk municipal council has issued a preliminary positive recommendation for the construction of a large pharmaceutical factory by the American company Eli Lilly. A large majority voted in favor of the permit application after reaching an agreement with the province of Zuid-Holland and the national government to jointly invest €100 million into the accessibility of the area, NOS reports.
The permit is now up for public consultation. A final decision will be made in the autumn. The land is already being prepared for construction. Locals have been bought out, and greenhouses have been demolished. The factory will be located at the Leiden Bioscene Park.
The construction plans also include thousands of homes to accommodate the large number of jobs the factory is expected to bring. At the municipality’s insistence, at least half of the new homes will fall into the “affordable housing” category, and the national government and province will jointly contribute €72 million.
Eli Lilly already has production sites in Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. The one in the Netherlands will eventually produce medicines for diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience.
The national government is very enthusiastic about the pharmaceutical company’s arrival. At its announcement in November, then-Economic Minister Vincent Karremans called it “a huge boost” for the regional and national economy.
Local politicians were more hesitant. The Katwijk municipal council agreed that Eli Lilly’s arrival would create jobs and be good for the economy, but they worried about the influx of residents causing more traffic on already congested roads. There are also concerns about the factory's high water consumption, and its effects on the environment and recreation on Lake Valkenburg.
Early this month, the city council told the national government that it would only approve the American company’s permits if the government promised to invest in the region's infrastructure and housing.
