Peel en Maas is a Dutch municipality in the province of Limburg.
It was created on January 1, 2010 from a merger of the
municipalities of Helden, Kessel, Meijel and Maasbree. Peel en Maas
had 43,561 inhabitants on 1 August 2020 (source: CBS) on an area of
161 km².
The municipality of Peel en Maas is located on the
left bank of the Maas and is part of North Limburg. It also falls in
the Peel, except for the strip on the Maas, which belongs to the
Maasland.
Municipal reorganization 2008
The Provincial
Executive wanted the municipalities in North Limburg to make a
decision before 1 April 2008 on how they want to work together. If
this were not successful, the province would take a decision on
behalf of the municipalities. The municipalities of Helden, Kessel,
Maasbree and Meijel could possibly form a new merged municipality.
The city council of Helden was unanimous in favor of merger.
Everyone in Maasbree was in favor of the merger, except the one-man
faction locally active. In Kessel only one councilor of Reëel
Alternatief was against the merger. All three municipalities have
indicated that they would in any case form a merged municipality,
even if Meijel did not want to participate. In Meijel, on the other
hand, only the opposition groups MVP and VVD were in favor of
reclassification, while the coalition group CDA was against. The
FWM-PvdA, the largest coalition party, took the decision on
September 10, 2007 and was against the reorganization. Meijel opted
for independence and only wanted a possible merger with the new
municipality of Peel en Maas in the long term.
On October 2,
2007, the mayors of the four municipalities announced that only
three municipalities would continue in a merged municipality. This
had to be a fact before January 1, 2010, at the next municipal
council election.
On 10 March, the Meijel municipal council
decided by a small majority (6-5) to opt for a merger with
neighboring municipalities Helden, Kessel and Maasbree. During the
extra council meeting on the reorganization of Meijel, the majority
of the FWM-PvdA faction voted against the merger. Subsequently, 4
members of this group decided to terminate their council membership
immediately or at short notice.
A working group was formed in
2008 to prepare for the merger and to inform staff from all
municipalities. This working group was called Peel en Maas. This
eventually became the municipality's name in January 2010.