On November 1, 2022, the time had finally come: the municipality of The Hague started renovating part of the boulevard in Scheveningen. A large, 35-metre-wide staircase in front of the Kurhaus luxury hotel, a more spacious layout and three large, new squares right next to the beach were intended to give the somewhat dull boulevard its allure back. There would be more greenery and more playground equipment for children.
A day later, the Council of State ruled in the so-called Porthos case – a large CO2storage project – that builders must find out in advance with their projects whether they are burdening vulnerable natural areas with nitrogen. Until then, this was not necessary because of the so-called ‘building exemption’.
Barely three weeks later, The Hague alderman Anne Mulder (VVD) stopped the Middenboulevard project again. It could not be ruled out that the nitrogen emissions from the activities would end up in vulnerable natural areas in the area, such as the dunes.
If the municipality had extra calculations carried out, the original planning would no longer be feasible. That is why Mulder decided to pause the entire project: otherwise beach tent owners would no longer be able to operate their catering establishments in the coming bathing season due to the renovation. “It was a pretty dramatic situation,” says Henk Kool, chairman of the Scheveningen Boulevard Entrepreneurs Association and former alderman. “The entrepreneurs have been preparing for this with the municipality for one and a half to two years.”
Read also: What does the Council of State’s nitrogen ruling mean in practice?
The fact that the building exemption was lost is because the Council of State lacked a legal basis for it. Dutch nature is in a poor state, and all nitrogen emissions – including those from construction machines – must be argued not to harm nature. According to research by former minister Johan Remkes, construction is responsible for 0.6 percent of the nitrogen precipitation in the Netherlands. The exemption was crucial to limit the consequences of the nitrogen crisis for the construction industry.
The ruling of the Council of State led to panic in the sector and in politics. “What we feared has become a fact,” said Willem van der Linde of Hegeman Bouw en Infra NRC. “Dramatic for the construction industry,” said industry association Bouwend Nederland. And nitrogen minister Van der Wal (VVD) thought it was a “disappointment”.
A nitrogen calculation takes a lot of time, not least because there is a huge shortage of engineers who can make such a calculation
An additional nitrogen calculation is now required for each project. That takes a lot of time, not least because there is a huge shortage of engineers who can make such a calculation. “The ecologists in our company are going to be very busy,” Evert Holleman, energy transition advisor at engineering and consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV, told NRC earlier. “Everyone is now trying to get such an investigation,” says Henk Kool of the Scheveningen boulevard entrepreneurs. “The question is whether you can intervene.”
If the calculation shows that the nitrogen deposition in a nearby sensitive nature area exceeds a certain limit, additional measures are required to limit emissions. Such as the use of electric construction machines or the phased implementation of a project, so that a nature reserve is not subjected to significant pressure all at once.
Project developers can also look for nitrogen space from, for example, farmers who are on strike, and there is one more exceptional option: projects of major public interest – such as a new highway – can continue with a good argument if the damage to nature is compensated. This is a long and legally complicated process.
Two months after the Porthos ruling, the consequences are clearly visible. Construction projects come to a standstill or are delayed. Rijkswaterstaat faces a complex maintenance task: renovation is often urgently needed, such as the Van Brienenoord bridge in Rotterdam, but the precise nitrogen situation is unclear.
In 2020, the Economic Institute for Construction (EIB) reported that the biggest problems in the construction industry regarding the nitrogen crisis were over. But of the 900,000 homes that Minister De Jonge has to build up to and including 2030, half may be delayed, Bouwend Nederland calculated in The Telegraph.
Four examples of projects that show how penetrating the nitrogen crisis is in the Netherlands.
Van Brienenoordbrug, and other Rijkswaterstaat projects
It is one of the most used highway bridges in the Netherlands: the Van Brienenoordbrug, with which the ring road of Rotterdam crosses the Maas. 230,000 vehicles use the white arch bridge every day, a crucial link on the route between North Brabant and South Holland.
Many parts of the bridge date from the time of the completion, 1965. Renovation is “urgent”, writes Rijkswaterstaat on its website. The increased heavy truck traffic has caused extra wear and tear in recent decades. The entire western arch will be replaced, the eastern one will be refurbished. The bridge gets a new coat of gray paint.
However, the planning of work is based on the construction exemption. And that no longer applies. Rijkswaterstaat is now investigating whether this will have consequences for the renovation, but will continue with the tender for the renovation. Because a quick approach is needed, according to the service. It is still unclear how much nitrogen is released during the renovation and whether measures are necessary to legally proceed with the project – and above all: how much time that will take.
If the bridge really has reached the end of its ‘lifetime’, but the nitrogen calculations or measures have not yet been completed, then Rijkswaterstaat can intervene. Set a lower speed, for example, or even close the bridge. Then the load on the bridge will be lower.
It is not the only renovation in which this plays a role. Rijkswaterstaat says that the Porthos ruling affects “dozens” of renovation projects.
New infrastructure projects pose a different problem. Here, the emissions in the construction phase are often negligible compared to the emissions in the ‘use phase’. In these cases, the Porthos ruling is less of a problem. After all, often compensatory measures have already been taken. But in the meantime, these projects are competing for the same people who can make nitrogen calculations. Now that renovation projects also need them, this market is becoming even tighter.
Homes IJburg, Utrecht, Overijssel and North Holland
1,500 homes on IJburg in Amsterdam, more than a thousand in the city of Utrecht, and about 10,000 in Overijssel are “possibly affected” by the Porthos ruling. In North Holland, no less than 150 construction projects are at risk of being delayed, according to Arthur van Dijk, the king’s commissioner in that province. “Hospitals, offices, shops, power plants and tens of thousands of homes.”
Across the country, the scrapping of the building exemption is leading to a delay in housing construction. In many places, provinces and municipalities are still investigating exactly which projects will be affected. It is quite possible that a large part of this can eventually continue quite easily in North Holland, says the commissioner. “But that requires research. That will also cost money, by the way.”
Following questions from the city council, the municipality of Utrecht shared a list of projects for which additional nitrogen calculations are required. In addition to the construction of hundreds of homes, this involves, for example, the installation of four wind turbines. The municipality is investigating whether it can use low-emission building materials to reduce nitrogen emissions.
On Centrumeiland in IJburg, a residential area in the east of Amsterdam, new calculations are required for two residential blocks, Alderman Reinier van Danzig (D66) told news website null20.nl. For this reason, the zoning plan for this entire district has been put on hold for the time being. And Amsterdam is lucky, according to Van Danzig: there are few protected nature areas close to the city.
From a national perspective, there is an easy way out, according to Van Danzig: “If we stop with mega stalls, more can be built in the Metropolitan Region.”
N65, the road between Den Bosch and Tilburg
It is a remarkable road, the N65 between Den Bosch and Tilburg. It resembles a highway in every way: four lanes, located between two major cities and connected to the A2 by a junction. But occasionally motorists suddenly have to wait for traffic lights where cyclists from villages such as Haaren and Vught cross – not always harmless.
That has to change. The municipality of Vught has 145 million available to make the N65 safer: the road must be partly ‘deepened’, with ecoducts, service roads for local traffic and separate cycle paths. Still, Vught will have to wait a while. At the end of last year, after an objection from a local nature association, the Council of State ruled that the nitrogen calculations of the project were incorrect.
The N65 case shows that even when a project has done the nitrogen calculations, you can still run into problems. According to the Council of State, Vught has not sufficiently demonstrated that nearby nature reserves – such as the Loonse and Drunense Duinen – are not damaged by the nitrogen emissions from the construction of this road construction project.
Because the nearby nature is in poor condition and is overloaded, it is difficult to argue that a road expansion can simply continue. This is a problem that projects that are no longer exempt from nitrogen calculations due to the Porthos ruling may encounter in the near future.
Incidentally, the Council of State also had difficulties with other aspects of the plan. For example, filling station holder Clemens van Hulten was insufficiently taken into account, who fears that he will lose business after the reconstruction of the road. His gas station will then be behind a wall. According to the Council of State, Van Hulten’s objection is well-founded and Vught must take more account of the financial consequences for the petrol station operator.
Ternaard, gas extraction under the Wadden Sea
Ellen Bakker is against gas extraction under the Frisian village of Ternaard, where she lives. “I live in an old house that immediately collapses at the first quake,” she jokes.
The Porthos case revolved around a project in which the Rotterdam industry CO2 wanted to store in empty gas fields under the North Sea. Meanwhile, gas extraction projects themselves are also affected by the ruling – to the delight of some parties.
For years there has been arguing about proposed gas extraction near the Frisian Ternaard, under the Wadden Sea. The Wadden Association and many local residents are against it. The cabinet wants to allow NAM to extract the gas, but has yet to make a formal decision. That keeps getting postponed. “We regularly hear: we are still looking at it,” says Bakker.
In November, the decision was postponed again to the first quarter of 2023. This was due to the scrapping of the building exemption. Last December, Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen) informed the House of Representatives that the NAM permit application must be reviewed. After all, nitrogen is also released during the ‘construction phase’ of gas extraction – during which the necessary installations are installed.
Opponents have read Van der Wal’s letter with some pleasure. “We are happy with every stick between the spokes,” says Ellen Bakker. At the Wadden Association, they also hope that this postponement “will lead to cancellation,” says employee Frank Petersen: “Due to the Porthos ruling, some nonsensical projects may be put on hold for good.”
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