Citizen's Council on Traffic

On Friday, February 7, the fourth and final meeting of the Citizens' Consultation on Traffic was held in Council House De Paauw. This closing was all about wrapping up and then voting on the opinions. 

The day began plenary with all participants, after which a poster market discussed the opinions written by participants in the previous meeting. Participants provided feedback on each other's ideas with post-its, after which the opinions were finalized. In the afternoon, participants voted on which opinions they felt were most important for the future of traffic in Wassenaar.

In conclusion, participants presented the advisory report to the municipality and aldermen Wim Koetsier, mobility, and Ronald Zoutendijk, participation. This concluded an intensive and valuable collaboration in which residents had their voices heard. The meeting was festively concluded with drinks. A beautiful conclusion to an inspiring process! 🍀👏

The municipality will now work carefully on the opinions and submit the final decision to the City Council before the summer.

Third meeting Citizens' Council on Traffic: working together for a better Wassenaar!

Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, the third meeting of the Citizens' Council on Traffic was held at theater de Warenar. It was a day of collaboration, reflection and progress.

The citizen council participants started by looking back at the previous meeting and determined what role they wanted to play during the third meeting:

• Scouts brought the thread of advice into Map.
• The voting committee worked on a plan for voting at the last meeting.
• Writers put first opinions on paper.

After an inspiring mini-lecture by Thomas te Lintel Hekkert of Royal HaskoningDHV about the roads in Wassenaar and the importance of the Citizens' Consultation on Traffic, the participants got to work in groups. In the morning and afternoon they worked on the final advice. During these sessions, feedback was also collected from the other groups, in order to arrive at a strong and widely supported advice.

At the end of the day, the scouts gave feedback on what they had seen, after which we concluded with a moment of reflection and the anecdote of the day. Now on to the fourth and final meeting in February! 

Friday, December 13, the participants of the Citizens' Consultation on Traffic met for the second time, this time in Raadhuis de Paauw. This day was entirely devoted to gaining knowledge and deepening understanding of traffic topics, an important step for writing well-considered opinions.

In the morning, participants started with a plenary session and a short lecture, after which they split up for the various knowledge sessions. The experts present shared their knowledge on a variety of topics, such as traffic psychology and the effect of speed changes, road safety for road users, bicycle safety, sustainable mobility and traffic accessibility for people with disabilities. Participants had the opportunity to interact with the experts and ask questions about challenges and solutions related to these topics. In the afternoon, theory and practice were linked by excursions to specific traffic situations in Wassenaar. Participants could experience on the spot how certain traffic solutions work and thus got a clear picture of what is possible. 

This valuable day laid a solid foundation for the third meeting to be held in the new year. At the next meeting, the first steps will be taken toward writing the opinions.

November 13 marked the first meeting of the Wassenaar Traffic Citizens' Council. The participants came together to discuss what they think is important for traffic safety, livability, accessibility and traffic flow in our municipality. Aldermen Ronald Zoutendijk and Wim Koetsier officially opened the evening and handed over the "key to success" to the group on behalf of the college. 

The chairman of the evening, Jan Bart Wilschut, then asked the aldermen a few questions, explaining, among other things, what will happen with the advice of the citizens' council. The opening part was concluded by a mini-lecture by Traffic Psychologist Gerard Tertoolen. After the plenary opening, the participants got to know each other. After this, they enthusiastically set to work on the central issue: "What do you think is important for the future of traffic in Wassenaar?"  

The second meeting is dedicated to deepening the themes chosen by the participants at the first meeting. Last night the participants nominated experts and local interest groups, who have been invited to the second meeting to share their knowledge with the participants of the Citizens' Consultation. Therefore, the second meeting is dedicated to knowledge sharing on the traffic themes of the citizens' council.  

Within a few weeks of the last meeting of the Citizens' Consultation on Traffic, the municipality will receive the advisory report from the external partner Moventem. They will ensure that the report is readable and accessible. After that, the advisory report will be made public. This will be communicated via the usual municipal communication channels and the report can then be found via this project page. 

At the December 19, 2023 council meeting, Mr. Krabbendam's motion 250 requested that the college hold a citizen consultation on the draft road categorization plan and livability, safety and traffic safety and traffic flow. More information on the draft road categorization plan can be found at www.wassenaar.nl/wegencategoriseringsplan.

The participants in a citizens' meeting are not elected, but selected by a lottery, i.e., completely at random. Anyone from Wassenaar aged 16 or older could be drawn. Through random sampling, residents received a letter asking if they wanted to participate. Residents were also allowed to register. From all the registrations another 100 people were selected by lottery, which together form a reflection of the Wassenaar population. Selection criteria used to ensure a good reflection of the population were age, gender and zip code. The process of drawing lots is explained graphically below.

Many different people with different opinions live in Wassenaar. By combining all ideas and experiences we come to better policies. In the Citizens' Council are about 100 residents of Wassenaar, who together form the best possible reflection of the village. Wassenaar wants to be a safe and livable village, for now and for future generations. Hence we involve our own residents in the issue of roads in Wassenaar.

It does not matter whether someone knows a lot or little about the subject of traffic beforehand. Instead, it is important that everyone can participate based on their daily knowledge and experience. In 4 meetings, the citizens' council works out recommendations in working groups. This happens under the expert and independent guidance of Moventem, the party that helps the municipality with the citizens' council.

The working groups can call on experts, experts by experience, inspirers and officials with knowledge of the topic. In addition, participants can go out on their own to collect materials.

After the final meeting in February 2025, the proposals from the citizens' council will be presented to the college.

Opinions that apply directly to the road categorization plan are considered heavily weighted by the college. This means that these opinions are adopted and turned into policy. The college then does not decide on these proposals, but advises the council on reality, feasibility and their connection to municipal plans. The council ultimately decides on the proposals given by the citizens' council.  

The Citizens' Council should be the best possible reflection of Wassenaar residents. Both in terms of age, gender, neighborhood and level of education. 10,000 residents were randomly drawn, reference date September 18, 2023. We checked for the right proportions within age, gender and neighborhood. 

As a municipality, we deliberately chose to make a selection. Moventem's experience is that if we had sent an invitation to all households, usually the same people from a family respond to the invitation. For example, more men or the oldest person in the house respond to the invitation. As a result, there would be a chance that far too few young people and women would sign up. We want a good reflection of the entire Wassenaar society.
By really specifically inviting one person in the household, we avoid this. It may well happen that two people in one household received an invitation.
 

To ensure that the different groups of residents were involved in a balanced way in the citizens' deliberations, a so-called weighted draw was applied. In this way, the municipality wanted groups that are usually less likely to apply for this type of participation process to still be adequately represented. Thus, residents with an immigrant background and young people are also involved. In the composition of the group, particular attention is paid to the subject of traffic and what is important in this regard. Consider age and the neighborhood where people live. The term representative is sometimes used, but actually this is not correct. Representative in research means something other than that a good reflection of the residents participate. Therefore, to avoid confusion, we prefer not to use this term. 

The independent agency Moventem is organizing the citizens' council. They have experience with more than fifteen citizen councils on various topics throughout the country. This makes them one of the frontrunners in the Netherlands in this field. For more information, visit www.moventem.nl.

The proposals of the citizens' council are presented to the college. The college does not decide on these proposals but advises the council on reality, feasibility and their connection to municipal plans. The council finally decides on the proposals of the citizens' council. If it is decided not to adopt a recommendation or not to adopt it in its entirety, the Citizens' Consultation assumes that these decisions will be accompanied by a detailed justification. 

These opinions are adopted and, in principle, converted into policy. This means that the municipality adopts the advice of the citizens' council unless there are important reasons not to do so.  

In the council meeting of June 4, 2024, the council adopted Mr. Krabbendam's motion 302, this time with a different duration and with a higher budget, with the mandate to implement the previously adopted motion dated December 19, 2023. The council has currently provided a budget of €172,790 for the organization of the citizens' council. 

Yes, participants will receive a fee of €100 for participating in (at least) three of the four citizen council meetings. 

Preferably so. A citizens' meeting produces the best results when the same participants come together all the time. It takes time to understand the topic, get to know each other and make proposals together. In case of unforeseen circumstances, it is possible to miss 1 of the 4 meetings.

The Citizens' Consultation on Traffic meets these Requirements. The question is open and clear. At the same time, it is not a guiding question. As mentioned earlier, the political follow-up is also clear in advance. We work with a weighted draw, allowing the council to be a good reflection of Wassenaar society. With a fee, we make participation accessible to everyone. Experts are used to provide the council with neutral and accurate information. The broader public is also well-involved with regular updates. 

The citizens' council will receive the results of the questionnaires. The results may contribute to the development of the final advisory report to be presented to the City Council.

Moventem needs some data for the organization of the meetings. They ask for this when registering and also request an approval to use this data. The personal data will only be used for this Citizens' Consultation. Answers to the questionnaire will only be shared anonymously with the Citizens' Consultation.

We share regular updates about the citizens' meeting in the newspaper, on social media or in our digital newsletter.

Meeting 1 on Nov. 13, 2024

On November 13, 2024, the participants of the Citizens' Council on Traffic will meet for the first time. Participants will get to know each other, the subject matter and how a Citizens' Council works. 

The evening will be opened by Wassenaar aldermen, after which participants will interact with each other.

Meeting 2 on Dec. 13, 2024

The second meeting is dedicated to deepening the themes chosen by the participants on Nov. 13. During the first meeting, participants named experts and/or local interest groups, who have been invited to this meeting to share their knowledge with the citizens' council. Accordingly, the second meeting will be devoted to knowledge sharing on the topics of traffic.

Meeting 3 on Jan. 17, 2025

During the third meeting, the deepening of knowledge will continue and participants will begin to write the opinions. Thus, in this meeting the participants will mainly work on their own.

Meeting 4 on Feb. 7, 2025

The fourth meeting is devoted to finalizing the opinions. At the end of the meeting, participants vote on the drafted opinions. Which is most important and which is slightly less important? The report will be presented to the college at another later time.

We chose weekdays because Saturdays are less convenient for young families and young people because of sports and other leisure activities. The topics do not lend themselves to being discussed in an evening and arriving at good advice. The experience of the agency that supports the municipality with the Citizens' Council on Traffic shows that there are also enough applications that are a good reflection of society when the Citizens' Council is not held on weekends.