Province of Noord-Holland: applying for a permit for an activity on a Natura 2000 site

You must apply for a permit if:

• you want to carry out a project or activities that may have an adverse effect on a Natura 2000 nature conservation area. For example, you want to expand your camping site that is located right next to a Natura 2000 nature conservation area.
• it is not certain in advance that your activities will not harm the quality of natural habitats.
• it is not certain in advance that your activities will not disturb the plant and animal species in the area.
• these activities are not exempt in a management plan or regulation as referred to in the Living Environment (Activities) Decree.

Consult with the provincial authorities in advance and, if necessary, with the municipality and nature organisations. This increases the chances of the provincial authorities approving your permit application. This at the same time reduces the risk of someone objecting to your application.

This is how you apply for a permit:

• Go to the online Omgevingsloket (in Dutch). This is the service counter for environmental and planning permits.

• Do the permit check.

• You will be told whether you need to apply for a permit. You can do this right away.

• Log in.

You apply for the permit from the authorities in the province in which your activities (largely) take place.

If you have applied for a permit, in most cases the regular process applies. In this case you will receive the decision within 13 weeks from the date the OD NH received your application. the OD NH can extend this period once only by 7 weeks. For certain situations an extended process applies. With the extended process, it will take an average of 6 months before the OD NH makes a final decision on your application. Please note that this site is in Dutch only.

If you have applied for a permit, your application could go through one of two processes, as described below.

Regular process

• If you do not agree with our decision on your application, you can lodge an objection. You will need to do this within 6 weeks of the decision.
• If you disagree with the decision on your objection, you can lodge an appeal with the court within 6 weeks.

Extended process

• We will make the provisional decision available for inspection for 6 weeks.
• During this period, any interested party can give their opinion on this by ‘submitting a representation’ (zienswijze indienen).
• We will then make our final decision.
• Anyone who has submitted a representation and does not agree with our final decision can lodge an appeal against this with the court.