Westerwolde council is heading back to court because of continued overcrowding at the Ter Apel refugee reception centre, officials said on Monday.

Westerwolde had given refugee agency COA until September 1 to get numbers under the official 2,000 limit which led migration minister Marjolein Faber on Friday to order local councils to find extra beds.

The COA said earlier on Monday that the number of people sleeping in Ter Apel had fallen to1,885 but had failed to take the emergency tent accommodation in nearby Pekela into account.

People sleeping in the Pekela tents are bused to Ter Apel every day and then back again at night.

Structural solution

The council’s legal team is now preparing a new appeal to the courts. “We hope that the COA sees that a structural solution is the only tenable one for this crisis,” mayor Jaap Velema said.

“The COA has been able to reduce the number of people by shifting refugees to other parts of the country. But, including the number of people who come here every day from the overspill location, the total is still too high at 2,053.”

Earlier, the COA was ordered to pay the council €1.5 million in compensation for breaking the limit over several weeks.