Objection procedure before the Municipality of The Hague against the granting of an Environmental Permit
(in five steps)
1. Objection against an Environmental permit
It is up to the College of Mayor and Aldermen (“B and W”) to grant an Environmental Permit. You can object within six weeks after publication of the permit. The objection must be set out in writing or with DigiD using the website www.denhaag.nl/bezwaar. Sending an e-mail with objections is not possible.
Would you rather hand in the notice of objection at the desk of the town hall? Then ask for a receipt. After sending an objection by post, an acknowledgement of receipt follows automatically.
2. Complaints Committee
The Complaints Committee first checks whether you are admissible in your objections. You are admissible if you can be considered “interested party”. That is only when the decision directly goes against your interests. In general, a distance and sight criterion are used. You will have to live in the direct vicinity of the house (the building) it is all about, or overlook it. You have to state you will be bothered by the decision and substantiate your claim with facts. There does not have to be an actual nuisance, finding something very ugly is also a form of inconvenience. It is also important to put forward you consider the building plan in the area neither beautiful or appropriate.
The Complaints Committee may ask to describe your interests in more detail. That is because many people find it difficult to properly formulate an objection.
3. Hearing
If your objection is admissible, you will receive an invitation to a hearing from the Complaints Committee.
You can submit additional documents to the committee secretariat up to 10 days before the hearing, but no later. Submitted too late, this additional information no longer can play a role. However, you can refer to or quote from it during your oral explanation at the hearing. For that matter, all parties can speak at the hearing and the representative of the Municipality certainly will do so.
4. Position adopted by the Mayor and Aldermen
The Complaints Committee will deliver its opinion to the Mayor and Aldermen no later than 6 weeks after the hearing. This opinion is not binding. The Mayor and Aldermen therefore can deviate from this, but they will have to motivate that.
5. Appeal
You can appeal against the outcome of the decision of the Mayor and Aldermen to a civil court. Please note: this must be done within six weeks of the date of the decision. Two reasons for appealing:
- The Complaints Committee declares the objection unfounded and the Mayor and Aldermen follow this advice.
- The Complaints Committee declares the objection well-founded, but the Mayor and Aldermen do not follow this advice and uphold the permit.
