Herwijnen radar station given go-ahead
The Council of State allows the plan for a military radar near Herwijnen to proceed after a legal flaw was remedied.
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Defence may build a new military radar station near Herwijnen. The Council of State gave final approval to the national integration plan on Wednesday, after exposure limits had been included in the plan.
The Administrative Jurisdiction Division considered the plan for a second SMART-L radar station. The site is near Herwijnen, where a civilian radar operated by Air Traffic Control the Netherlands previously stood. The State took over responsibility for spatial planning after the former municipality of Lingewaal failed to adopt a zoning plan for the station in 2018.
Local residents, the Niet Nog een Radar in Herwijnen foundation and the municipal authorities of West Betuwe opposed the site. Among other things, they argued that other locations would be more suitable and that the radar could affect health, the living environment, equipment and noise levels.
The Council of State considers that Defence and the Ministry of Housing sufficiently substantiated the choice of Herwijnen. The ministers had commissioned several reports and investigated alternative locations. According to the ruling, the fact that they worked with a preferred location did not invalidate the investigation.
There was, however, a legal flaw in the way electromagnetic radiation was dealt with. The ministers had relied on the exposure limits of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, the ICNIRP. The Council of State says those limits provide sufficient protection for public health, but that they should have been explicitly included in the plan.
The administrative court remedied the flaw itself by adding the ICNIRP contour to the planning rules. The plan has thereby become final. The ministers must incorporate the amended rules into the digital planning documents within four weeks.
The ruling concerns the national integration plan. Objections to the environmental permit for the construction and operation of the station had previously been referred to the Gelderland District Court. The ruling therefore means that the spatial-planning basis for the project is settled, but not that every individual aspect of its implementation is beyond dispute.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- The Council of State has given final approval to the national integration plan.
- The court added the ICNIRP contour to the planning rules.
- Local residents and the municipal authorities opposed the site and its possible consequences.
- According to the ruling, a second SMART-L radar station is needed to defend Dutch airspace.
Left
Arguments The national security benefit does not automatically justify sidelining a local authority and local residents. A responsible government should give greater weight to health, the living environment and public support, and first make every effort to find a site with fewer local burdens.
Values Protection of citizens, the precautionary principle, democratic accountability and a fair distribution of the burdens of security.
Consequences Faster implementation is exchanged for further investigation or a new assessment of locations, but this may strengthen trust in Defence and spatial-planning decisions.
Centre
Arguments The airspace must be defended, but that requires transparent substantiation, independent measurements and strict compliance conditions. The ruling offers an institutional compromise: the project can proceed while the exposure limits have been laid down in law.
Values Legal certainty, proportionality, expert decision-making and accountable implementation.
Consequences The project will proceed, but Defence retains a continuing duty to demonstrably comply with standards and permit conditions and to limit nuisance.
Right
Arguments A military radar is vital infrastructure and should not be delayed indefinitely by local opposition when the national need and safety requirements have been sufficiently investigated.
Values National security, administrative effectiveness, protection of the territory and the authority of democratically adopted decisions.
Consequences The state can build capacity more quickly and implement future security projects more predictably, at the risk of further increasing local distrust.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
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The article's core follows directly from the Council of State's ruling. Claims about health are limited to what the court ruled on this matter.
- confirmed The Council of State gave final approval to the national integration plan for Radar Herwijnen. — This is stated in the press release accompanying the ruling of 23 September 2026. source
- confirmed The court added the ICNIRP contour to the plan. — The ruling says that the flaw was remedied by adding a planning rule and contour. source
- confirmed The court found the choice of Herwijnen sufficiently substantiated. — The Council of State refers to several reports and an investigation into alternative locations. source
- confirmed Objections to the environmental permit were previously referred to the Gelderland District Court. — That procedural history is set out in the background to the ruling. source
Editor's note
The final planning approval, the addition of the ICNIRP contour and the assessment of alternative locations are certain. The separate permit procedure and the construction timetable fall outside this ruling.Sources
- Uitspraak 202502316/5/R4 — Raad van State
More on this in Dutch media
- NU.nl — „radarstation herwijnen”
- De Telegraaf — „radarstation herwijnen”
- AD — „radarstation herwijnen”