Connecting the two islands of Helgoland into one

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

North of the German mainland is a tiny group of two islands known as Helgoland, and looks like this from above:


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Well, it seems that the two islands just might be joined into one if a referendum on the island(s) results in a positive vote. Welt has an article here from two days ago about this, according to which there will be a referendum on the 26th of June where the 1200 residents will vote on two main plans. The two plans are as follows:

Plan 1: this is the larger plan, which would join the two islands. A new area of 295,000 square metres would be created and would have room for new houses, beaches and recreational opportunities.

Plan 2: the smaller plan, under which a 94,000 square metre area on the northeast harbour would be dredged.

Much of the initiative for these plans comes from a man named Arne Weber, who is an investor in Hamburg and whose family comes from the islands.

The population of the island is now only 1200 but used to be 3000, and apparently a minimum of 2000 are needed to stabilize the population by giving at least some opportunities to those who live there.

For an image showing the islands now compared with after unification, see here.

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