Green light and LEADER grant for Watersley

Watersley Sports & Talentpark in Sittard will be expanded to include a food facility with healthy and sustainable foods. Both the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and the Province of Limburg and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development are contributing financially through a grant from the LEADER Zuid-Limburg program. The work started on Monday 2 May 2022.

Voedsel verbouwen

Watersley Sports & Talent Park is a campus where young (top) athletes from home and abroad live, train, eat and spend their free time. In terms of food, the campus is well on the way to becoming completely self-sufficient. The park will grow its own food for the athletes and people in the area, as part of a social project.

"We have reserved about seven hectares for growing food," says project leader Jeroen Niessen. "On it we will grow almost everything ourselves: from grains to fruit and from herbs to vegetables. We will do this in a nature-inclusive way. There will be a vegetable garden, a greenhouse and a run with chickens that provide eggs. We will also plant orchards with fruit and nut trees. We choose unique foods that are good for athletes, such as the gluten-free grain teff. Pasta and bread we make ourselves, with grain from our own land."

"We will start by restoring the monastery garden to its former glory. The history of the grounds plays a major role in the project. Together with the Sittards Verleden Association, among others, extensive research has been done into that history. In previous centuries, food was already grown in the front garden of the monastery and prepared in the space that now also functions as our kitchen. In this way we preserve the rich history of Watersley and give the terrain our own, modern look."

Proeflokaal

"The harvest from the monastery garden, among others, is intended for our athletes, but also for people from the neighborhood. In the old monastery will be a tasting room, where we cook for people. Through a greengrocer with whom we work, our products will be available on the Sittard market. And if there is enough food, we will also bring it to the care of the elderly. Food that is healthy for athletes is also healthy for seniors, because it is packed with nutrients."

Learning and development program

On the campus, young people with a distance to the regular labor market work. The food supply gets a place within their learning and development path. Together with Watersley, the supervisors of Porthos Watersley and the local community they learn about food and growing it.

Subsidies from LEADER South Limburg

Watersley Food will receive approximately €110,000 from the LEADER South Limburg grant program, of which the municipality of Sittard-Geleen will contribute €44,000. Watersley's food project fits within the sustainability and health goals set out in the municipality's Future Vision 2030. According to councillor Pieter Meekels, this initiative will ensure the preservation of Watersley and the accompanying estate. LEADER Zuid-Limburg is a European subsidy program which develops and strengthens the quality of life and economy in rural areas. The European Union, the Province of Limburg and the municipalities of South Limburg make money available for this purpose.

Thanks to LEADER, more than 20 projects have emerged in South Limburg in recent years. "Watersley Food Supply is the first project to get the green light since the new grant period opened in June 2021," says Hub Meijers, chairman of the Local Action Group that evaluates project applications. "In the coming months, some ten more new projects are expected to follow. We are currently working out the plans together with the initiators. It looks very promising. We expect that some nice initiatives will be added to the existing LEADER projects and that we can successfully conclude the current LEADER period at the end of 2022."

"Meanwhile, we are also exploring the possibilities of LEADER for the new period of 2023-2027. We hope that not only South Limburg but also other areas in Limburg will be given the opportunity to participate. That way we can realize even more projects together. After all, that is what we do it for, to make Limburg more beautiful for the people of Limburg. This will be worked out in more detail in the coming months," concludes delegate Lia Roefs.