The government has designated Zeeland as the preferred location for the construction of two new nuclear power plants. As preparation for the potential arrival of the nuclear plants, the Province of Zeeland, the government, and the involved municipalities are working on a package of measures to limit the impact of the construction and to respond to the opportunities for the region. Raymond Knops is overseeing this process as an independent area connector and has just sent his second advisory letter to Minister Hermans, the board of Provincial Executive and the board of the mayor and aldermen of the involved municipalities.
In his letter, Knops indicates that he has the impression that the various parties are implementing earlier advice. Over the past six months, he has gotten to know various stakeholders through conversations and site visits. He has seen that there has been work on closer cooperation with and between all parties involved and that a robust process has been established to come to a Government-Region package. From September, various participation processes will start in the region, also as input for the Government-Region package.
Government-Region Package
If the cabinet chooses Zeeland, the power plants must contribute to a better future for Zeeland. Disadvantages and nuisance for the environment must be minimized. And also, in the long term, there must be benefits for the regional economy, education, labor market, housing, and infrastructure. The Province and involved municipalities want to make good agreements with the government about this. This is done in a so-called Government-Region package.
The core team of the Government-Region package has now mapped all relevant projects, schedules, advice, and conditions to determine the steps. Both existing and additional information from the project procedure, advice, and participation processes are included. The process is divided into phases, anticipating the expected information. The absence of a (definitive) location choice and other essential information makes the elaboration of the Government-Region package complex.
To be able to proceed, the core team works with principles that have been established based on the already available information. As soon as additional information about the location and related studies becomes available, these principles will be further refined to the local situation. This way, the provisional Government-Region package will become increasingly concrete over time.
Communication and Coordination
Knops indicates that open communication and clear expectations are crucial for effective collaboration, especially given the dependencies and currently missing information. It is also important to coordinate the timing of the various participation processes starting in September as much as possible. And of course, to share the information coming from the various participation processes with each other and coordinate the communication about this. Not directly involved governments are well informed through existing consultation structures.
The complete advisory letter can be downloaded here