Holstebro Municipality plans to build 60 summer houses in flood-prone wetlands, despite government’s nature restoration efforts

Water naturally floods the fields of Græm Kær in the winter. Located in a low-lying area, the neighbours consider it a quintessential example of the wetlands that the government plans to return back to nature on a large scale. Despite this, Holstebro Municipality is committed to a plan to construct 60 new summer houses in the area.

The summer houses will be built on elevated lands, and the area around Græm Kær will be equipped with deep drainage to prevent flooding. Otherwise, the houses would simply be inundated with water. Lars Roesen, a critic and local resident, argues that it’s unsustainable to knowingly build 60 new houses in an area that is already waterlogged during the winter.

In a recent meeting before the summer holidays, the Holstebro Municipality’s finance committee decided to proceed with the plan. This decision contrasts with the government’s green tripartite messages that there is a need for more nature restoration. Among other things, 140,000 hectares of agricultural land should be converted and re-established as wetlands.

According to Roesen, there seems to be no connection between the local political decisions and the national objective. The land in Græm Kær is wet, and therefore the 60 summer houses are to be established on building fields, which will be raised by half a meter.

The summer houses are planned to be built in the classic thatched style, familiar to many from the area. However, Kenneth Tønning, a member of Holstebro’s finance committee, believes that nature restoration can take place in many other locations. He explains that there is a need for more summer houses in the area to accommodate more tourists.

Tønning states that many summer house owners in West Jutland and the West Coast do not rent out their houses. Therefore, there is a need for more summer houses to attract more guests. He supports the green tripartite and nature restoration, but notes that the elected politicians in Holstebro Municipality have decided that Græm Kær should not be part of those plans. Instead, the area fits well with other plans to bring more summer house guests to their part of the country.

The only opponent of the project in the municipality’s finance committee is Karsten Filsø from SF. He believes that restoration should be done and the landscapes should be cared for where it makes sense, and that is the case in Græm Kær. He suggests building summer houses on the healthy soil located inland.

The owners of Græm Kær have applied to the municipality for permission to build the summer houses. According to the green tripartite’s recommendations for the agricultural sector’s climate and nature challenges, a green agreement has been politically reached. This includes a CO2 tax on the agricultural biological processes, support for planting forests on agricultural land, support for removing lowland soils, and land purchases to reduce nitrogen emissions. A fund of 40 billion kroner has been allocated for these initiatives.