Landscape Committees Want to Collaborate with the Province on a Healthy Landscape

Holland Rijnland and the regional landscape committees have sent a letter to the province of South Holland asking for cooperation and support to ensure a strong and healthy landscape.

From the dunes and flower fields to the hilltops and meadows, from the ponds to the lakes—the landscape of South Holland is unique. It is a place where many people live, work, relax, and exercise, experience nature, and stay healthy and active. South Holland’s valuable landscapes are under pressure. Climate change, the energy transition, the housing challenge, nitrogen-related issues, and the growth in traffic are among the factors putting pressure on the limited space in our province. Collaboration is therefore more important than ever. The various landscape roundtables and regional representatives have asked the province of South Holland to collaborate during the new administrative term to create a strong and healthy South Holland landscape.

Provincial Vision

When it comes to investments in landscapes and biodiversity, municipalities often limit their focus to their own municipal boundaries. The province of South Holland can make a significant difference for regions and municipalities by developing a vision of which landscapes are important, how they are interconnected, and by allocating the necessary funds and personnel to support this. The landscape roundtables and Holland Rijnland aim to revitalize the collaboration with the province of South Holland, which was previously so successful. In their letter, they ask current and future provincial administrators to help by endorsing the importance of the landscape roundtables in the coalition agreement and by allocating sufficient resources for the upcoming administrative term to support landscape expertise, the landscape roundtables, and (co-)investments in green, healthy landscapes.

Past Successes

Previous collaboration with the province of South Holland has been very successful. Examples of successful projects include:

• The construction of Singelpark, Europe’s longest city park, which naturally connects Leiden’s historic city center with the surrounding region (Leidse Ommelanden)
• The Construction of Walking and Bicycle Paths in De Boterhuispolder (Leidse Ommelanden)
• The transformation of a former greenhouse area into a high-quality green space where people can live in the Maaslandse Dam (Hof van Delftland)
• Quackstrand Area Development, including: a larger beach and a boardwalk (Voorne Putten)
• A green entrance to Duin Horst & Weide by optimizing the transition from Koekamp to the Haagse Bos and improving the transition from KJ-plein to Koekamp (Duin Horst & Weide)