This month, Jan Tops’ project in Valkenswaard completely blew my mind; he wants to press ahead with his idea of building a hotel on his land. His business revolves around elite horses, competitions, and horse sales, so it’s a truly international operation.
What caught my attention is that the plan is completely blocked in that precise area. I couldn’t find many hotels nearby—barely a boutique hotel and a Fletcher hotel. Now, these Fletcher hotels were acquired by Sunday PropTech on 28 October this year.
The exact area where he wants to build the hotel is classified as a nitrogen-sensitive zone. Looking at the percentages, it doesn’t seem like any hotel project is feasible in this area—it’s simply impossible.
In early December, ASML celebrated that they are expanding their facilities very close to Eindhoven Airport, across 32 hectares, operating under a government permit of national priority. So, if the system protecting nature is already fully enforced and there is no way the Valkenswaard project could ever be classified as viable, why do persist? It certainly isn’t a national priority either.
I started looking into whether something could be done there with a vineyard project, and I found two wineries on the other side of this territory. The soils in this horse-farm area are sandy and would require a soil restoration programme just to plant a resilient grape variety. But those horses are far more profitable than planting vines anyway. Which is the new plan?
