More strategic cooperation with Het Hogeland

Het Hogeland and Noorderzijlvest sign agreement for greater strategic cooperation. Issues relating to water and soil, climate, energy, economy, and quality of life do not adhere to administrative boundaries. The municipality of Het Hogeland and the Noorderzijvest water board, each with their own powers and responsibilities, are addressing these social challenges.

Added value

This is usually done with the best of intentions, from the perspective of one's own organization. Both governments 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 governments 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 municipality and the water board:

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

Mayor Henk Jan Bolding and dike reeve Roeland van der Schaaf signed the administrative agreement on July 2.

Signing of the cooperation agreement: From left to right Bert Wiersema (member of the NZV executive committee), dike reeve Roeland van der Schaaf, mayor Henk Jan Bolding, Stefan van Keijzerswaard (alderman HH)
From left to right in the photo: Bert Wiersema (member of the Noorderzijlvest executive committee), dike reeve Roeland van der Schaaf, mayor Henk Jan Bolding, Stefan van Keijzerswaard (alderman of Het Hogeland)