Participation
Involving residents, businesses and administrators, and what the law does and does not require.
- Analysis
More objections do not prove the right to object is too broad
TenneT reports a doubling in objections and warns of years of delay. Two days later, the Council of State dismissed every appeal against the Rijswijk to Leiden heat pipeline. Read together, these two reports from the same week tell a different story than either does alone.
Read more → - Knowledge Base
Participation under scrutiny: six lessons as the courts examine minimum requirements
Six homes in Rhenen, twelve in Baarle-Nassau and one distribution substation in Zeist will determine how participation under the Environment and Planning Act is judicially reviewed. Six lessons for project organisations that would rather not wait for the outcome.
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The designation power in practice: six principles for stakeholder management under the Wgiw
From 1 July 2026 a Dutch municipality may require a neighbourhood to abandon natural gas. That shifts the heat transition from persuasion to designation, and turns public support from a soft ambition into a legal precondition. A practical guide in six principles.
Read more → - Policy
Landing offshore wind on land: VAWOZ now puts the choice with the regions
Until 2 July 2026, the draft VAWOZ 2031-2040 programme is open for public review: the routes and locations through which future North Sea wind farms will come ashore. Behind the technical story of cables and converter stations lies a stakeholder challenge that lands in five regions at once, one that can be steered, or left to drift, in the current consultation phase.
Read more → - Projects
A 200-megawatt battery next to the neighbourhood: storage as a stakeholder challenge
TenneT is contracting large batteries to relieve the congested grid: the first, Sequoia near Oosterhout, is rated at 200 MW. But the battery that saves the grid still has to stand somewhere. The bottleneck shifts from grid capacity to siting, safety and public support.
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Energy hubs: the coordinator role as the key to collective grid capacity
Connection waiting lists, an Energy Act that enables collective contracts and a regulator that adds households to the queue from 1 July: energy hubs have moved from research topic to a serious option for business parks. The decisive factor is not technology, but coordination.
Read more → - Policy
Heat zones, authority and participation: what the Collective Heat Act demands from municipalities and environmental managers
Since 1 January 2026, municipalities direct district heating networks in the Netherlands. They designate heat zones, select heat companies and safeguard affordability. But how do you ensure residents aren't presented with a fait accompli? A practical guide for stakeholder and environmental managers implementing the Collective Heat Act.
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Seven dilemmas of the dike worker: what the HWBP Dike Workers' Day 2026 teaches about stakeholder and environmental management
On 2 April, the Dutch Flood Protection Programme presented its 2026 Project Book and the Dike Workers' Day in Den Bosch once again put the persistent dilemmas facing dike reinforcement teams on the table. Seven lessons for stakeholder and environmental managers working on the largest dike reinforcement operation since the Delta Works.
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Building faster starts with better environmental management
The political call for less public participation and shorter procedures sounds appealing, but in practice leads to more objections, more court cases, and longer delays. Good stakeholder and environmental management is not a brake on infrastructure projects: it is the engine.
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Six lessons from the ACM review: why transparency is essential for grid expansion
The ACM concluded that the investment plans of Enexis, Liander, Stedin and TenneT were insufficiently substantiated. The network operators are launching an improvement programme. Six lessons on transparency and stakeholder communication that go beyond the investment plan itself.
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Participation under the Environment and Planning Act: the new reality for infrastructure projects
Since 1 January 2026, the transition period of the Dutch Environment and Planning Act has fully expired. What does the participation requirement mean in practice for stakeholder and environmental management at major infrastructure projects?
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Stakeholder management in large infrastructure projects
How do you identify stakeholders, what are their interests and how do you build public support? A practical guide with examples from infrastructure practice.
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What is operational management (omgevingsmanagement)? A practical guide
Operational management (omgevingsmanagement) ensures that projects succeed not only technically, but also socially. What does the field involve, and what are its components?
Read more → - Innovation
The Distribution Substation: experience environmental management in an interactive game
Where do you place a distribution substation when every location sparks resistance? In The Distribution Substation you experience the environmental manager's dilemma.
Read more → - Innovation
AI applications in environmental management
How artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the way we conduct environmental analyses.
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