Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment

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The Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (Dutch: Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieu; VROM) is a Dutch ministry. It is responsible for policies on public housing, spatial planning, the environment and the housing of national government agencies. The current minister is Jacqueline Cramer, she is aided by a minister without portfolio for Housing and Integration, Ella Vogelaar.

[edit] History

The Ministry of VROM was established as the ministry of Reconstruction and Public Housing (Dutch: Wederopbouw en Volkshuisvesting) in 1947, to coordinate the reconstruction of the Netherlands after the Second World War. Its main goal in this period was to build enough housing. In 1958 the ministry was renamed Public Housing and Construction Industry (Dutch: Volkshuisvesting en Bouwnijverheid).

In the 1965 the ministry was renamed Public Housing and Spatial Planning (Dutch: Volkshuisvesting en Ruimtelijke Ordening). Spatial planning and land management became more important. The high level of population growth in the densly populated Netherlands made centralized coordination of land use necessary. The ministry began to publish coordinate the land use policies of provinces and municipalities. Urban renewal also became an important issue for the ministry.

In 1982 the ministry was renamed Public Housing and Spatial Planning and the Environment. The environment has previously been a part of the portfolio of the Ministry of Public health. With rising environmental consciousness the environment became the most important issue for the ministry. The ministry also bears responsibility for international environmental policy. Since 2006 the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency is an agency of this ministry.

[edit] Ministers

The last minister of at the ministry were:

Pieter Winsemius, 1982-1986 (VVD)
- State secretary: Gerrit Brokx (CDA)
Ed Nijpels, 1986-1989 (VVD)
- State secretary: Enneüs Heerma (CDA)
Hans Alders, 1989-1994 (PvdA
- State secretary: Enneüs Heerma (CDA)
Margreeth de Boer, 1994-1998 (PvdA)
- State secretary: Dick Tommel (D66)
Jan Pronk, 1998-2002 (PvdA)
- State secretary: Johan Remkes (VVD)
Henk Kamp, 2002-2003 (VVD)
- State secretary: Pieter van Geel (CDA)
Sybilla Dekker, 2002-2006 (VVD)
- State secretary: Pieter van Geel (CDA)
Pieter Winsemius, 2006-2007
- State secretary: Pieter van Geel (CDA)
Jacqueline Cramer, 2007-present (PvdA)
- Minister without Portfolio for Housing and Integration Ella Vogelaar 2007-present (PvdA)