Nuisance from Polish supermarket: neighbors can sell house to municipality

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Local residents who suffer from the nuisance surrounding the Polish supermarket on the Gastelseweg in Roosendaal must be able to sell their house to the municipality. It is a remarkable proposal from Mayor Han van Midden to deal with the problems that have been going on for more than ten years. “This issue is costing the city a lot of money in enforcement and must therefore be resolved once and for all.”

Public urination, vandalism, aggression and cars parked all over the place. Local residents in the Kalsdonk district feel intimidated and unsafe by customers of the Polish Supermarket. They have therefore been campaigning with the municipality for years to tackle the nuisance. All measures have yielded little so far.

Houses have fallen in value
The mayor and aldermen are therefore now presenting a number of unusual proposals to the municipal council. According to Van Midden, everything is negotiable. Possible solutions he mentions include buying out the owner of the supermarket and giving local residents the opportunity to sell their house to the municipality. Owners must then be able to demonstrate that their house has become less valuable.

“This is a proposal to close the file. Of course it comes with a price tag. It is up to the municipal council to ultimately make a decision,” says Han van Midden.

“A buyback scheme could be a solution.”

Marc van der Leeuw of the action committee of local residents is ‘cautiously positive’. “We have to see it all again before we believe it. You can have a plan, but it’s about feasibility. A purchase scheme could be a solution, but then you have to find another house. That’s not that easy at this time. The most important thing for us remains that this store does not belong here.”

Other options to tackle the nuisance include redesigning the area surrounding the supermarket into a green, bicycle-friendly street, moving the supermarket to a more suitable location and expropriating the property to make way for houses.

“I want to bring this case to a successful conclusion.”

Van Midden will leave as mayor of Roosendaal at the end of next month. “I don’t want to leave open ends for the city and my successor. I personally feel very involved and I therefore want to bring this file to a successful conclusion. That also has to do with my honor and pride.”

Residents will have the opportunity to give their opinion on the proposals on May 6.

There is often nuisance around the supermarket (photo: Robert te Veele).