Delta Programme Steering Group sets course for the Delta Decisions
At its meeting on 28 November, the Delta Programme Steering Group provided guidance on the content of and the process for reaching the Delta Decisions and the preferred strategies for DP2015. After consultation, in spring 2014, the steering and advisory groups of the sub-programmes will advise Delta Commissioner Wim Kuijken on the Delta Decisions and the choice of preferred strategies. The Delta Commissioner will then come up with a proposal. After being discussed by the Delta Programme Steering Group, final approval of the proposal will take place during the meeting of the Delta Programme National Administrative Consultation Group, chaired by Minister Schulz van Haegen. The Delta Programme 2015 will then be adopted by the Council of Ministers and presented to the House of Representatives on Prinsjesdag (the state opening of parliament in September).
Freshwater
The Steering Group agreed to work towards a Freshwater Delta Plan within the framework of the Freshwater Delta Decision, with agreements on supply levels and investment programmes for the IJsselmeer region, the western Netherlands, the south-western delta, the rivers region and the Hoge Gronden (high-lying areas). The related amounts needed from the Delta Fund will also be set down given that national interests are at stake.
Spatial adaptation
The Steering Group’s embraced the aim of designing the Netherlands in a more water-robust manner. This means that in the Spatial Adaptation Delta Decision, municipalities, water authorities and provinces will work on and be supported in water-robust spatial planning and climate-proof cities. In April 2014, with the aim of preventing a lack of commitment, the Delta Programme Steering Group will discuss the form the agreements on this will take. The importance of using the Water Assessment tool early in the spatial development process was underscored.
Water safety
We are switching to different safety standards in which the focus is on the basic safety level for everyone behind the dikes and protecting the economy. The standards for dikes are derived from these standards. In determining the new standards, assumptions have to be used regarding the possible consequences of flooding, such as evacuation fractions, as well as regarding possible developments in the climate and the economy.
Bearing the Water Safety Delta Decision in mind, the state of affairs of the validation of the evacuation fractions by the safety regions was discussed. Data is not yet available for all the safety regions, but for several procedures it appeared that the calculation norm needs to be tightened because estimates of the evacuation fraction in the technical studies have been too positive. In many cases, however, this is appropriate.
Furthermore, it was agreed that together with the regional sub-programmes,
the Safety sub-programme will set down the thrust of the advice on the standards
in national terms and make it concrete using average values. There will be an
informal meeting in mid-February to study and consider things properly.
IJsselmeer region and Rhine-Meuse delta
The outline for this Delta Decision is solid, as already described in the DP2014. Further guidance is needed on keeping open the option of allowing a limited rise in the water level of the IJsselmeer after 2050, and on the option for the Rhine-Meuse delta of storing water in the Grevelingen.
Preferred strategies
The development of the preferred strategies is on schedule. During the upcoming information and consultation round, information will be provided in the regions regarding the state of affairs.
Future working method of the Delta Programme
Professor Teisman, who has been commissioned by the Delta Commissioner to perform a study into the working method and organisation of the Delta Programme, submitted an interim report to the Steering Group. Among other things, interviews showed that the (administrative) actors appreciate the approach of the Delta Programme and awarded it an average score of 8 out of 10. The Steering Group wants to retain the sound aspects of the approach. In April, based on Professor Teisman’s research, the concrete structure of the Delta Programme’s organisation after the Delta Decisions will be discussed. In this regard, the Multi-Year Plan for Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Transport (MIRT) and the High Water Protection Plan (HWBP) will be taken into consideration.