Little support for Hedwige polder flood plan

A compromise plan to flood part of a polder in Zeeland to compensate for lost nature has failed to win majority support in parliament, news agency ANP said on Wednesday.


The European Commission had agreed to revised plans to flood part of the Hedwige polder but now it transpires only CDA MPs support the plan, the news agency says.
The decision to flood the polder was first taken in 2005 as part of an agreement between the Netherlands and Belgium. But the new government did a u-turn on the plan, forcing junior farm minister Henk Bleker to look for an alternative.

U-turn

Now Bleker is suggesting flooding one third of the polder – an area the size of around 150 football pitches, plus a couple of other pieces of land and a golf course.
Several political parties have now submitted plans to have the compromise torn up and the original agreement to flood the entire polder reinstated, ANP says.
In addition, the Belgian authorities are pressing for a speedy decision.

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