Provincie Overijssel

About Provincie Overijssel

Provincie Overijssel is the regional government of the Dutch province of Overijssel. It sits between the national government and municipalities, handling responsibilities that are too broad for local government but too specific for the state, and it both implements national tasks and makes its own policy choices.

The province serves residents, businesses, municipalities, and other public and private partners across a wide range of policy areas, including mobility, economy, energy, nature, water, agriculture, and spatial planning. Its public role is to steer long-term development, maintain public infrastructure and services, and balance economic activity with environmental and social goals.

In its market positioning, Overijssel presents itself as a practical, collaborative public authority focused on a strong, liveable, and sustainable province. It emphasizes partnership, regional development, and a future-oriented approach to issues such as the energy transition, circular economy, and rural vitality.

Core Values

• Sustainability: The province consistently frames its work around cleaner energy, circularity, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and a more sustainable countryside.
• Collaboration: Many of its programmes are built with municipalities, water boards, businesses, knowledge institutions, landowners, and other partners.
• Practical implementation: Overijssel stresses execution, acceleration, and concrete action rather than policy alone, especially in energy, nature, and rural programmes.
• Balance: Its policy language repeatedly emphasizes balancing nature and economy, accessibility and safety, and public interests in spatial planning.
• Future orientation: The province focuses on long-term resilience, including future-proof infrastructure, a resilient energy system, and a liveable rural area.

Unique Aspects

• A broad regional government role: Overijssel is not a commercial company but a provincial authority with direct responsibility for policy, implementation, and oversight across many sectors.
• 24 Natura 2000 areas: The province states that it has 24 protected Natura 2000 nature areas and leads the associated development and restoration agenda.
• Strong partnership model: Its nature, energy, and water programmes are explicitly carried out with municipalities, water boards, network operators, businesses, and sector organisations.
• Regional energy coordination: Overijssel has built a joint energy implementation agenda with partners and works on issues such as net congestion, heat, mobility, and local ownership.
• Known external partnerships and funding: In the LIFEPolliNature project, Overijssel is one of eight partners sharing EUR 4.5 million in EU LIFE funding and contributing to a EUR 7.5 million total investment in pollinator landscapes. It is also part of a broader hydrogen initiative in Northwest Overijssel and Flevoland with municipalities, companies, and regional development partners.