Locals furious at village demolition plan

Tuesday 26 February 2008

The Groningen village of Ganzedorp should be demolished and the land returned to nature, according to local council officials.

The village has some 60 houses but many have been empty for years. 'The best thing we can do for Ganzedijk as a social unit is to end it,' councillor Ruud Hietbrink told news agency ANP.

Hietbrink said there was a good chance that the village would eventually be bulldozed although it would cost a considerable amount to buy out the owner occupiers. The demolition would probably be carried out in stages, he added.

Locals reacted furiously to the plan. 'The village is like one big family. This news has been a bombshell,' residents' committee chairman Leo de Raad told ANP.

'I will refuse to go,' said villager Fenna Freij, who has lived in Ganzedorp for 27 years. 'My children were born here. Whatever happens, they will not get me out.'

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