A new online campaign with a wink highlights the good of living and working in the northeast of Friesland. More residents are needed to absorb the shrinkage.
Freedom and peace of mind, that is what actor Theun Plantinga and his partner Michael Kick have found since they moved to Rinsumageest in Friesland, between Leeuwarden and Dokkum. Three years ago, they bought an old town hall, Het Rechthuis, which they converted into an inn. “You would have to pay millions for this national monument in Amsterdam,” Kick explains, “here you could do it with a few hundred thousand.”
Plantinga is from Friesland. His partner from Amsterdam. “I only knew Friesland from the Elfstedentocht,” says Kick. “Life here is simpler, less massive. You are bombarded with the word mienskip (community spirit), but there is a grain of truth in it. People help each other. If the roof is leaking, someone says in the village app: I'll just drop by.”
The new residents are more than welcome in the northeast of Friesland, which has started a campaign to attract more residents by emphatically putting the peace and space in the spotlight. The promotional videos are full of hearty laughs about all the city problems. Traffic jams, heavy traffic? “No, that's ten cars in a row here. We don't even have traffic lights in Dokkum.” Safety? “Haha, we just leave the back door open.” Stacked living? “No, the church tower is the highest here.”
Population decline of 9.1 percent
In the campaign Dan moatte jo hjir net weze (Then you shouldn't be here), Frisians enthusiastically explain why this region deserves to be discovered: the space, the nature, the pleasant living, the safety and the sense of community. The campaign is an initiative of the municipalities of Dantumadiel, Noardeast-Fryslân, Achtkarspelen and Tytsjerksteradiel.
Officially, the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân is no longer a shrinking region, but the trend of aging and the departure of young people continues. In 2040, the population in the four Frisian municipalities is expected to shrink by 9.1 percent compared to 2020. This will lead to a tight labor market, although unemployment in Northeast Friesland is on average 3.7 percent above the Frisian average. The declining population figures mean that in the northeast of Friesland, 16,000 fewer people will be available for the labor market in 2040. Partly because many people aged 55 and over, working in relatively large sectors such as industry, agriculture and health, will retire.
Nevertheless, 77 residents were added in the first half of this year, says mayor Johannes Kramer (FNP) of the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân. These are mainly people who grew up in the region, flew out and returned to it heitelân (Friesland). “But people from outside Friesland, who discovered the region as tourists, also settle here. Entrepreneurs who are not tied to a permanent workplace often choose the Frisian countryside,” he knows. Not least because of the attractive house prices. “Of course, they have also risen here,” says Kramer, “but they are still three times lower than in the rest of the Netherlands.”
Happy residents
The campaign is not only intended to put North Friesland on the map, it should also make its own residents feel more proud. Incidentally, the Frisians in this area do see that it is a good place to live. A month ago, a CBS report on broad prosperity was published. Of the residents of the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân, 86 percent are satisfied with their lives and 89 percent feel 'happy'. The figures are well above the national average. Although incomes are lower than in the rest of Friesland and the Netherlands, the feeling of happiness is greater in this municipality. This is also described as the 'Frisian paradox'. The quality of the living environment (peace, space, nature, clean air) and the sense of community score higher than economic factors.
However, that feeling of happiness is no reason to sit back, emphasises Frisian media producer Sipke Jan Bousema, who devised the online campaign. The Dokkum native himself moved from Amsterdam to Wyns (above Leeuwarden) four years ago. “The Randstad attracted me when I was young and I thought it was fantastic. But people live close together there. It is quieter here in Friesland.” He feels at home in Wyns. “Frisians are there for you and will do anything for you. With this campaign, we want to inspire people who are attracted to that to come here. Although there don’t have to be hundreds of them.”
Comments