"My name is Casper Gelderblom and I have been a Heerlen resident since 1997. After graduating from Grotius, I studied and worked in several countries, but every summer and winter I found my way back to our beautiful Heerlen. In recent years, my girlfriend and I lived in Florence, where I worked as a researcher at the European University Institute. I also coordinated the global "Make Amazon Pay" campaign starting in 2020.

About 11 years ago I joined the Young Socialists and the Partij van de Arbeid in Heerlen. In recent years I have become increasingly enthusiastic about left-wing cooperation. The "red" struggle for social justice and the "green" struggle for sustainability are one as far as I am concerned. Great that I get to be an alderman in Heerlen on behalf of GroenLinks and Partij voor de Dieren . With Housing, Environment and Circularity in my portfolio, 'red' and 'green' issues come together. Building a fair, sustainable housing market is a priority in the coming years. We call a halt to landlords and we want to reduce energy poverty. The latter requires that we from the city government set our sights on making housing more sustainable. If we do this well, we can take three steps at once: 1. By improving insulation, we can reduce the energy bills of many Heerlen residents; 2. By increasing energy efficiency, we give the climate a helping hand; 3. By using the latest generation of green roofs, for example, we also promote biodiversity.

Together with the college, the council and certainly you as a Heerlen citizen, I am going to fight hard for this!"

Portfolio

Housing, Environment and Circularity, Services and Real Estate

• Living
• Environment
• Omgevingswet
• Waste and circularity
• Biodiversity and animal welfare
• Services (internal and external)
• Property
• Heerlerheide district councilor