ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how the local politics in Katwijk and its neighbouring rural municipalities reacted against the planned building of a large new town in their region in the 1990s. This resulted in the development of a regional identity discourse through which local politicians in Katwijk and in the municipalities of its rural region joined forces with local agricultural entrepreneurs, conservationists and the provincial administration. The chapter discusses the emergence of this regional identity discourse and also its current fading away. It focuses on how local identities were used to oppose another, much more localised urbanisation threat in the 2000s. The regulation of this new urbanisation threat was an important reason why, in 2006, three municipalities decided to amalgamate. After amalgamation, the different local identities became a key element in the local politics. The chapter analyses the role of local neighbourhood councils and local associations in thepersistent use and dominant role of local identities in the municipal politics of Katwijk.
