Offered: NVM Agricultural & Rural
Space for Space offers farmers opportunities
According to real estate agent Sjaak Swart van Western Agricultural and Horticultural Brokers (WLTM) from Bleiswijk it is good that the Space for Space regulation exists; he expects that more farmers will make use of it. Although he is also critical. "Especially due to ignorance, not every municipality is equally effective in applying the regulation."
Swart has been working for years as a broker and appraiser in North Holland for WLTM, specialized in agricultural real estate and rural living. He has a lot of experience with Ruimte voor Ruimte. Originating from the Business Termination of Livestock Farming Regulation, the government introduced this regulation in 2000 with the aim of improving the quality of the rural area. According to Swart, himself a farmer's son, it gives farmers more choice in what they want to do with their business. "I often see older entrepreneurs who have no successor for their business. Or who are forced to make large investments and then decide to stop. They can then sell their business to a colleague, but thanks to Ruimte voor Ruimte they can also decide to demolish the company buildings and get saleable building plots in return. As a broker, you then look at what suits them best. It is always custom work."
Buildings disfiguring the landscape
A good example of this is a former flower bulb nursery in Egmond aan den Hoef, run by four generations, where Swart supervised the sale of the building plots. A concept that comes into play with Ruimte voor Ruimte is whether the buildings are disfiguring the landscape. Think of dated barn buildings, asbestos roofs and large yards. These are all objects that take up a lot of space. Their demolition leads to a smaller building plot and therefore an expansion of the rural area. "In the case of the flower bulb nursery, the fact that it was right next to the dunes also played a role," Swart explains.
Repurposing
The municipal image quality plan states that the massive volume of the commercial buildings obstructs the characteristic view of the dune edge behind it. As a result, people are positive about a repurposing. According to Swart, such an image quality plan, usually drawn up by an external agency, plays a crucial role in Space for Space. It often also contains the guidelines for the new residential plot(s) to be built. "People then look at the existing buildings", Swart indicates. "Newly built homes must fit in with this. You can imagine that notary homes, for example, would look very strange in the rural area of Egmond." For example, a classic barn house will be built for the bulb nursery and four other homes that will have the appearance of agricultural barn buildings. The farming family will occupy three of these homes themselves. The other two will go to private individuals who would like to live in the countryside.
According to Swart, it is a win-win situation: spatial quality gains are achieved and the depreciation and demolition costs of the buildings, which will be vacant anyway, are compensated by the Space for Space scheme. At the same time, he sees that one municipality operates more decisively than another. What makes it complicated is that the Space for Space scheme is a national scheme, but it is applied differently per province and therefore also has to fit within a specific environmental plan. In addition, the new Environmental Act will also come into play from 1 January. According to Swart, municipalities sometimes have to get used to this. "For example, they do not have everything on paper yet or they rely on old environmental plans. That is not due to unwillingness - municipalities actually think along with Space for Space - but rather ignorance." Swart himself once visited a hesitant municipality with an NVM employee who had done a thesis research on Space for Space and explained what was possible with the scheme. "Then the municipality finally gave in, which is good. Also with a view to the future when more agricultural entrepreneurs will stop. Space for Space offers those people a choice."
