Councils for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI)
Council for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM-raad)
Raad voor de volkshuisvesting, de ruimtelijke ordening en het milieubeheer
 |
Raden voor de Leefomgeving en
infrastructuur: tav. Raad voor de volkshuisvesting, de ruimtelijke ordening en het milieubeheer (VROM-raad) Visitor's address: Nieuwe Uitleg 1 2514 BP The Hague Postal Address: P.O.Box: 90653 2509 LR The Hague The Netherlands Tel. +31 70 456 20 70 Fax: +31 70 456 20 71 secretariaat@rli.nl www.vromraad.nl | www.rli.nl |
Establishment and Mission
Council Members and Staff Members
Current and Future Activities
Present Priority Fields
Since January 1st in 2010, the VROM-raad has a common secretariat with the
Council for the Rural Area (RLG) and the Advisory Council for Transport,
Public Works and Water Management (RVW) under the name Secretariat for the
Councils for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI). This has the following
consequences:
In 2010 the council will be developing a variety of activities, both
individually and jointly together with the RLG and RVW:
- Firstly, the council will provide follow-up for reports published in 2009
- Secondly, the council will publish new joint reports which will also serve to contribute towards the decision-making process with regard to proposals arising from the 'broad-based expenditure reviews' (see parliamentary paper (Kamerstuk) 2009 - 2010, 32123, nr. 25, House of Representatives)
- Finally, the council will invest in the process of strategic agenda setting and the identification of issues for the next few years in order to develop a robust long-term advisory programme. Exploratory studies will be set up to this end.
The VROM-raad will finalise the following opinions:
- Financing environmental quality
- Spatial quality
- Rental Market
The 2010 joint work programme contains five advisory reports, three
advisory letters and one exploratory study. New advisory report subjects
from the joint work programme for 2010:
1) 'Broad-based expenditure reviews' in the integrated perspective of the
living environment (advisory letter / publication in the 3rd quarter of
2010)
2) Responding to Climate Change (advisory letter / publication the 1st quarter
of 2011)
3) Departure points for the national implementation of the EU Marine Strategy
(publication in the 1st quarter of 2011)
4) Dealing with dike safety standards (publication in the second half of
2010)
Future Priority Fields
1) Area-specific policy (publication in 2011)
2) Roadmap to a sustainable city (publication in 2011)
3) From 'big city' to 'metropolitan' policy (publication in 2011)
4) The future of Dutch agriculture (exploratory study for a later
report)
5) Departure points for a Common Agricultural Policy (advisory letter /
publication in 2011)
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Background and Mission
Establishment
The Dutch Council for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM-raad) was founded in 1997, following a restructuring of the previous system of advisory councils. As of 1 January 2010, the council has a joint secretariat with the Council for the Rural Area (RLG) and the Advisory Council for Transport, Public Works and Water Management (RVW) under the name Councils for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI). The Framework Act Advisory Bodies and the VROM-raad Act are the legal basis that determines procedures, task and working methods of the council and its secretariat.
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Mission
The VROM-raad advises the government and parliament on strategic choices for the medium and long-term strategic choices. Its advisory reports address policy issues related to sustainable and quality of the living environment.
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Council Members
The multi-stakeholder council has 3 Council Members Their term lasts for four years and they were reappointed in January 2010.
| Chairman Henry Meijdam |
Partner of Meijdam & Overmars BV - Bureau for Enterprise & Government Director ESPEQ education businesses BV General Manager of the foundation CURNET |
Members |
|
| Prof. Annemieke Roobeek | Professor of Strategy and Changemanagement at the Nyenrode Business University |
| Prof. Niels Koeman | Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Amsterdam Lawyer and partner at Stibbe, Amsterdam |
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Staff Members
The newly formed joint secretariat has 25 members. Ron Hillebrand is the secretary general.
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Work Style
Tasks of the Council
The VROM-raad advises the Government and parliament on strategic choices for the medium and long-term. The explanatory memorandum accompanying the VROM-council Act anticipated that requests for advice would largely be confined to four areas:
- The physical environment: the surroundings in which societal activities unfold. The issues here are those of quantity, quality and planning as well as identifying the variables – e.g. energy, biodiversity and space - that are crucial to realising a society that manages its resources in a sustainable way
- The changing socio-cultural processes (such as sustainable consumption, demography, lifestyles, perceived quality of the living environment) and international developments (European integration, globalisation and North-South relations) which influence housing, spatial planning and environmental policy
- The relationship between economy and ecology
- Instruments and policy concepts (such as management techniques, optimisation, coherence, societal support, voluntary agreements and direct regulation, concepts for planning and large project planning).
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Substructure and Working Groups
- Spatial quality
- Living in space and time: cultural development and housing
- The housing market
- The new region: traditional regions like municipalities and provinces are no longer the logical scale for spatial, ecological and social processes. how to manage new and permanently changing forms of regional cooperation
- City and identity
- National Spatial Framework
- Public space
- Land policy
- Applying environmental standards in land use planning.
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Council Meetings
The Council meets every three weeks.
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Type of Advice
VROM-raad writes advisory reports on demand of the Dutch Government or parliament concerning strategic choices related to sustainability and quality of the living environment. The four areas of advice are described in the issue 'Tasks of the Council'.
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Activities in the EEAC Network
The VROM-raad was involved in the early years of the network and became member when membership was introduced in 1997.
It is an active member in the Working Group Sustainable Development/Governance and an observer to Working Groups Biodiversity and Energy.
It co-hosted, together with the Dutch RLG and RMNO, the 5th Annual Conference 1997 on Self Regulation within Society in Vinkeveen.
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List of Selected Publications
You can search for the full list of policy advice in the EEAC Search Engine which also includes the titles in English of publications available in original language only.
- RLI
report: Make room for renewal (July 2010)
- Council
recommendations for sustainable urban development (March 2010)
- Step
by step, Reform of the housing market (Dutch, February 2010);
- Dynamics in area-focused environmental governance. Developing by re-arranging.(Dutch, July 2009)
- City and district intertwined. Switching, connecting, anchoring in the city (Dutch, July 2009)
- Public space: towards a new balance between image, importance and management (Dutch, June 2009)
- Living throughout space and time. A quest for socio-cultural trends in living. (Dutch, June 2009)
- Acupuncture in the main structure. Towards better crosslinking urbanisation with mobility (Dutch, March 2009)
- Basis for quality: proposals for improving the government strategy on (inner)city development (Dutch, February 2009)
- Changing Coalitions, to an effective regional planning (Dutch, October 2008);
- Recommendations for the development and implementation of European law and policy on housing, spatial planning and the environment in the Netherlands (March 2008);
- Every Journey has its price, A policy strategy for cutting transport CO2 emissions (January 2008)
- Sustainable development of marine potential A vision on an integrated maritime policy in Europe and the Netherlands (May 2007)
- Give space, take space. Examples to improve the implementation of spatial planning policy, (Dutch, March 2006 - English summary);
- Environment and the art of the good living (Dutch, October 2005 - English summary);
- Energy transition, a climate for new opportunities (December 2004).
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Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den
Haag. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated on 8 June 2011.