BARENDRECHT – Representatives of all seven parties participating in the municipal elections in Barendrecht entered into a debate on Wednesday. They did this during the political afternoon of senior citizens’ associations KBO and PCOB. The venue was De Ontmoeting, which was occupied to the last seat.
Arie Slob (PCOB) managed the afternoon in a relaxed manner. The representatives were given three minutes to introduce themselves and their party to the seniors who arrived. Ada Dekker did this for GroenLinks, Arjan Stolk on behalf of SGP-CU, Ed Mol on behalf of PvdA, Marianne Tijssen on behalf of D66, Simon Kelder on behalf of VVD, Peter Luijendijk on behalf of CDA and Lennart van der Linden on behalf of Echt for Barendrecht.
Then the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions. Important themes this afternoon were safety, (public) transport, the Service Center, a vacancy on the Middenbaan, and housing. But the first question was about the BAR collaboration and was put to Lennart van der Linden. He said that EVB is against merging. “We think cooperation is very important, but this model is not the perfect solution. We believe that part of the services should come back to Barendrecht. “Ed Mol responded clearly:” Getting out of the BAR cooperation is a completely idiotic plan. We finally have the tent in order. It has been researched: it works fine. ” Simon Kelder added by saying that merging is absolutely out of the question.
There was also talk of free public transport for people over 65, which all parties are enthusiastic about. It was mainly mentioned that there should be more stops and that the connection between old Barendrecht and Carnisselande should be much better. Peter Luijendijk about this: The local bus that will soon be running, really goes through the neighborhoods, so it will partly tackle that problem. ” Marianne Tijssen called on the seniors to let them know what they are missing or to raise this with RET themselves. , which covers the stops, among other things.
Another topic of discussion was the Service Center, where seniors can no longer go. But there is no alternative either. Ada Dekker indicated that a lot is planned where meetings will be possible in the future. One option is to create a meeting space in Borgstede if it receives a quality boost. Luijendijk gave the tip to approach the many schools in the neighborhoods. “They are open to outside users and often have an auditorium that is very suitable.”
The accessibility of the police also turned out to be a concern. Marianne Tijssen said that in the regional consultation it was stated that there is a need for more police officers in Barendrecht, but that the municipality is not about the police. The option to use BOAs and become a volunteer at Neighborhood Prevention was mentioned.
Finally, a lot of attention was paid to housing for seniors and modifications to the home. The lack of transparency of the WMO policy was discussed. And the question of why so many owner-occupied apartments in the high segment are being added was heard from several angles. There is now hardly anything available for the group that just missed out on social housing. Ed Mol about this: “There is no long-term vision. The strategy has always been to opt for expensive projects. And we are afraid of going up in Barendrecht, but such buildings can solve the problems. ” Van der Linden added that much social housing will also be built at the locations on the Botter and the Oude Postkantoor. If your senior love ones are having difficulty to walk you can buy and ‘choose the best narrow walkers for seniors‘ for them.