Overview
- Hours before the council meeting on 18 June, the national government and South Holland province agreed with Katwijk to put more than €100 million toward road upgrades and related access works around the proposed site.
- The Katwijk municipal council issued a provisional positive recommendation for Eli Lilly’s permit application, with a definitive decision due in the autumn after a mandated second opinion and public responses.
- Eli Lilly has applied to build a roughly 20‑hectare, up-to‑40‑metre production facility that the company says would bring about 500 jobs and cost around $3 billion.
- Preparatory land clearance and demolition of greenhouses are already under way and some owners have accepted buyouts, which has heightened local concern over the pace of works before final approval.
- Residents and councillors remain worried about water quality and shore stability at Valkenburgse Meer, noise, loss of landscape and added traffic, while the governments demanded guarantees that at least half of the roughly 5,600 Valkenhorst homes be affordable.