The former riding school in Park Brakkenstein is just about ready to accommodate 225 asylum seekers. The first people will arrive in a couple of days. Local residents and journalists had the opportunity to take a look inside on Sunday.

There are shower areas, a meeting spot, canteens, consultation rooms for doctors and dentists, a waste disposal yard, and small shops for clothing and everyday items. The former riding school at the d’Almarasweg, property of Radboud University, has been transformed into a small village in two weeks time.

The municipality of Nijmegen and the COA gave journalists and local residents a tour of the terrain last Sunday. ‘We serve three meals a day in the canteens: breakfast, lunch, and dinner’, says location manager Diederik Walther. ‘Coffee, tea, and lemonade are available all day long.’

Residents of the shelter can eat the meals in the canteen, a room in the large pavilion on the terrain where tables and chairs have been set up. There is also a bar for coffee, tea, and lemonade. Even the riding school itself houses a small canteen with wooden benches, tables, and a coffee corner. To pass the time in the central meeting area, there are games and a television available.

Walther calls the shelter ‘frugal’. ‘But that is exactly the point. It is an emergency shelter, so people do not have to sleep outside at Ter Apel. They live here while awaiting their asylum application. You can sleep, shower, and eat.’

Families

Earlier this month, the municipality announced that between 200 and 250 asylum seekers will temporarily be housed on Radboud University’s terrain. Ter Apel currently does not have the capacity to do so. Immediately after the announcement, construction on transforming the former riding school into a shelter began. In a few days, the first residents will arrive.

According to Walther, the former riding school is meant for families. Earlier, the COA said that children ‘are generally housed in separate locations’, but the current setup did take them into account. Just under 75 beds have been allocated. The central space in the building has been divided with partitions into sleeping areas that each contain four beds. The sleeping areas are closed off with cloths to ensure privacy.

‘The people staying here are allowed to leave the grounds of course’

Next to the riding school, adjacent to the train tracks, a large, white pavilion has been constructed, which will house around 150 people. There are sleeping areas with four bunkbeds each, meant for men travelling on their own.

‘The people staying here are allowed to leave the grounds of course’, the location manager continues. ‘They will receive a key card. Via that same system, we make sure that other people cannot just enter the premises. Visitors are not allowed.’

Hikers

Park Brakkenstein and the botanical garden De Hortus, located right next to the shelter, will remain open to hikers. The student survival sports association FEL has had to relinquish part of their terrain to the emergency shelter. ‘It concerns something like three equipment sets that temporarily cannot be used’, says Walther. ‘We created a new entrance to their terrain, so students can keep doing what they are doing.’

‘This place is safer than ever’

The idea is that wellbeing organisation Bindkracht10 will organise daily activities at the emergency shelter, but exactly how that will take shape is still unknown, according to Walther. It will depend on the number of refugees coming to Nijmegen and the group composition.

The emergency shelter will remain in use at least until the end of this year, but chances are that asylum seekers will be housed at Park Brakkenstein even in 2023. The municipality is not worried about any potential nuisance. ‘This place is safer than ever’, Walther reassures. ‘There is 24-hour security and cameras.’

Translated by Jan Scholten