Noordwijk site sequencing

Noordwijk’s municipal executive says Bronsgeest II is now the faster route to new affordable housing than the Achterweg site. (bollenstreekomroep.nl) The comparison came after local party Helder asked on April 10 which location was most likely to deliver affordable homes first. The college answered that Bronsgeest II scores better on five points: how far the plans are developed, who owns the land, the province’s position, the finances, and the total time before construction can start. (bollenstreekomroep.nl) Bronsgeest II is already deep into the permitting stage. Noordwijk’s council approved an environmental permit for 290 homes on March 11, 2026, and the draft permit and related noise decision were published for public inspection from March 31 through May 11, 2026. (noordwijk.nl, noordwijk.nl) The Achterweg is much earlier in the process. Noordwijk announced that plan on June 27, 2024 as roughly 500 permanent homes plus 275 asylum-reception places, but the project depended on approval from South Holland province before the town could move into a detailed planning phase. (noordwijk.nl) That approval did not come. Noordwijk said on November 13, 2024 that the provincial executive had refused permission for the Achterweg plan, saying the area was not designated for housing, though temporary reception in flexible units might be possible there. (noordwijk.nl) Land control also separates the two sites. According to the college’s reply, Noordwijk already owns all the land needed for Bronsgeest II, while much of the Achterweg land is still in private hands and the municipality owns only small pieces. (bollenstreekomroep.nl) Bronsgeest carries its own constraints, but they are now more concrete than abstract. The draft permit covers up to 290 homes, and the municipality has acknowledged traffic noise from the N206 above the standard threshold, with a proposed higher limit up to 55 decibels. (noordwijk.nl) The wider Bronsgeest project has also cleared a major legal hurdle. The Council of State definitively approved the zoning plan for the first Bronsgeest neighborhood in September 2025, allowing a separate 350-home scheme to proceed into the permit stage after years of litigation. (omroepwest.nl) Politics around the site remain unsettled. Noordwijk’s council asked on April 24, 2025 to start preparing Bronsgeest II despite a strong negative recommendation from the responsible alderman, and the province has since moved to classify part of Bronsgeest as protected bulb-growing land rather than a major housing location. (noordwijk.nl, bollenstreekomroep.nl) For now, Noordwijk’s answer is narrower than the larger land-use fight: if the question is which affordable homes can reach construction first, the municipality says Bronsgeest II is further along than Achterweg. (bollenstreekomroep.nl)