News Ground
Agriculture lost 17 hectares in 91.000 years
In the period between 2000 and 2017, a total of 100.000 hectares of land was re-purposed in the Netherlands. By far the largest part – 91.000 hectares – is agricultural land. Most of this land has been designated as built-up areas for housing or industry.
CBS made a new analysis of land use in the Netherlands during the period 2000 to 2017. This shows that on the last reference date 54% of the Dutch surface was used for agricultural purposes. Water accounts for 19%, buildings for 13% and forest, nature and recreation make up the remaining 14%.
More than 2% of the land in the Netherlands has changed its destination over the past 17 years. Each day, an average of 15 hectares of agricultural land was used for another purpose. In addition, most of the land – some 5.300 hectares – was taken from construction sites. In most cases, the new destination is housing construction, followed by industrial estates.
Significantly more housing construction
Logically, from 2000 onwards, construction has mainly been carried out in the Randstad conurbation. 37% of all growth comes from there. The provinces in the Randstad therefore show the greatest changes. Flevoland is also included, this has to do with the expansion of Almere (33%). Throughout Flevoland, the amount of living space has increased by a quarter, putting it in first place. Utrecht and South Holland follow with 14%. The largest growers at municipal level can also be found there. Pijnacker-Nootdorp is at the top with 73%, followed by Barendrecht with 63%.
The growth of industrial estates is also in South Holland, but also partly in North Brabant. The number of industrial estates increased most in Rotterdam, due to the arrival of the Second Maasvlakte (1.200 hectares). Amsterdam, Moerdijk, Venlo and the Haarlemmermeer round out the top five.
Niels van der Boom
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.
