Amstelveen, Holland

History

The City of Amstelveen was established in 1278 but it was not until the 17th century that it began to expand. It started off as a fishing and farming community and went on to be dominated by peat digging which was replaced early this Century by cattle ranching and agriculture. The name means a watery place with peat.

Geography and Transport

The city is located 7 miles south of Amsterdam in the Province of Noth Holland and is very close to Schipol international Airport which is rapidly growing and now ranks as Europes fourth airport. The City has good road communications being located on the main A9-10 highway with good rail communications.

Link with Woking

The Woking link was formed in 1983 with a Charter of Friendship signed in 1989. There are a number of links which have formed between schools, clubs and associations in the two towns and there have been a number of exchange visits.

Population

The population is 75,892 and was the fastest growing municipality for eight successive years with two-thirds of the dwellings having been built since 1960. The City has a diverse ethnic population with the Japanese forming by far the largest ethnic minority, followed by the British, Americans and Indonesians.

Redevelopment

The City is a prosperous, lively community and is undergoing a major redevelopment with a new City heart to be in place by the year 2000. There will be improved cultural and entertainment facilities with a new library, hotel, adult education centre, music school, catering and shops together with a new public park, car parking, housing and offices. A new museum opened in late 1995 and in that year the Cultural Centre had over 119,000 visitors.

Education and Sports Facilities

There are 22 primary schools, 6 secondary schools and an international school. Sporting facilities include 24 sports fields, a tennis park with 12 outdoor and 5 indoor courts, 2 large swimming pools and a sports centre which has indoor football, badminton, and gymnastics events. There are also 95 open play areas, a children's working garden centre and a children's farm.

Business Activity

The international business community, particularly from Japan and the United States are strongly represented in Amstelveen as it is an attractive location and include companies such as Philip Morris, KLM and Hewlett-Packard. The main activities include information technology and computer services. In total there are 4185 companies with employees in the area providing 27,015 jobs mainly in banking, insurance, trading companies, business service providers, hotels, restaurants and catering.

Environment

Amstelveen is very green despite being in a highly urbanised area with less than one third of the area being built up and with half of the land space being agricultural. Recreational facilities account for more than 20% of land. Between the two world wars the huge Amsterdam Forest was planted and is the largest landscaped park in the Netherlands. It caters for horse riding, cycling, walking, camping, canoeing, wind surfing and swimming. Also important are the famous Amstelveen Parks which house collections of plants threatened by extinction.

Further Information

For further information relating to twinning please contact The Honorary Secretary on (01483) 743013, e-mail wtta@woking.gov.uk or write to: Woking Town Twinning Association, c/o Civic Offices, Gloucester Square, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6YL.