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Bad Fallingbostel (dpa / lni) - In a referendum on the planned Heidekreis Clinic, according to the preliminary result, the majority voted in favor of the previously planned location in Bad Fallingbostel.
According to the figures published by the district on Sunday evening, more than 35,000 people, or around 64 percent, voted against looking for a new location.
On the other hand, just under 20,000 and thus around 36 percent wanted the district council to have to look for a new location.
The referendum was directed against a new building in Bad Fallingbostel and advocated a location in the Dorfmark area - less than ten kilometers away. With him, a district council resolution of 2020 should be overturned. The plans provide for a new clinic to be built in Bad Fallingbostel with state subsidies. It is intended to replace the two clinic locations in Walsrode and Soltau. The initiators of the referendum rejected this location because, from their point of view, it was not central enough.
The plans for the new building there are already well advanced.
If they had been tipped, the district would not have been able to submit the application for funds from Structural Fund II by September 30th by the deadline.
The time for a second architecture competition to be advertised across Europe is too short, according to the spokesman.
Investments in the architectural competition would have been lost.
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In other regions, too, there are constant discussions about hospitals in the area, for example in East Frisia. The planned new construction of a central clinic for the independent city of Emden and the district of Aurich was delayed by two years because the majority of the Emder voted in a referendum to keep their own hospital and thus against the construction of the central clinic in the Aurich district. In the meantime, it is assumed that construction costs will increase significantly.
Lower Saxony's state government wants to prevent citizens' decisions on the locations of hospitals in the future with an amendment to the municipal constitution. She is following the outcome of the vote in the Heidekreis on the more than 100 million euro project with great interest. «If further planning for the new building is delayed as a result of the referendum, the chance of receiving funding from Structural Fund II will be reduced very significantly. Other projects could come into play more quickly, ”said Minister of Social Affairs Daniela Behrens (SPD) of the“ Walsroder Zeitung ”.
More than 115,000 people were called to vote.
The participation was almost 48 percent.
The official final result will be determined this Wednesday by the voting committee of the district.
According to the district, the clinic should be able to start operations in 2027 if the previous plan is adhered to.
After the funding has been approved, the district council is to make the final decision on the new building in 2022.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210419-99-257874 / 2
Heidekreis
Information on the referendum