Greater strategic cooperation with Het Hogeland

Het Hogeland and Noorderzijlvest sign up to greater strategic cooperation. Issues relating to water and soil, climate, energy, the economy, and quality of life are not framed by administrative boundaries. Het Hogeland council and the Noorderzijlvest water authority each address these social challenges within their own areas of powers and responsibilities.

Added value

This is usually done with the best of intentions, from the perspective of one's own organisation. Both authorities see great added value in structural, area-specific cooperation on the challenges we face: giving water and soil a voice; dealing with climate change in a future-proof manner; and keeping the energy transition on track.

Looking ahead

That is why both authorities want to take a strategic approach to social challenges in spatial planning, quality of life, and the regional economy. We will do this by looking ahead together in a stronger and more emphatic way. By doing so, we will be able to make smarter choices when it comes to the issues we currently face. This form of collaboration will start with a pilot phase in which we will develop, learn, and evaluate.

This means that the council and the water authority:

  • Working from the task: picking it up collectively with shared goals, respecting each other's statutory tasks and powers, with joint programming and joint implementation. In other words, shared responsibility.
  • Consultation at administrative and management levels ensures strengthened vision, guidance, and implementation.
  • We aim for integrated programming with joint project management where possible.
  • We organise knowledge exchange at all levels.
  • We explore subsidy opportunities together to apply for external funding more effectively.

Mayor Henk Jan Bolding and Dyke Reeve van der Schaaf signed the administrative agreement on 2 July.

Signing of the cooperation agreement: From left to right Bert Wiersema (member of the NZV executive board), Dyke Reeve van der Schaaf, mayor Henk Jan Bolding, Stefan van Keijzerswaard (councillor HH)
From left to right in the photo: Bert Wiersema (member of the Noorderzijlvest executive board), Dyke Reeve van der Schaaf, mayor Henk Jan Bolding, Stefan van Keijzerswaard (councillor of Het Hogeland)