Haren, Groningen



Haren (Hoaren) is a town and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. It is located in the direct urban area of the City of Groningen and, in January 2019, was merged into municipality of Groningen.

Haren is a commuting town with many wealthy inhabitants. It lies on the northern part of a ridge of sand called the Hondsrug. It contains one of two dolmens in the province of Groningen (in the village of Noordlaren) and the largest botanical garden of the Netherlands called Hortus Haren. The municipality comprises a woodland area called Appèlbergen (east of the village of Glimmen) and a lake called.

The first mention of Haren was in 1249.

On 21 September 2012, riots broke out in Haren when over 5,000 people turned up to a birthday party that was accidentally made public on Facebook. There were over 30 arrests after vandalism and looting caused over a million euros in damage.

Population centres

 * Essen
 * Glimmen
 * Haren
 * Noordlaren
 * Onnen
 * Paterswolde (partly)
 * Noordlaren
 * Onnen
 * Paterswolde (partly)

The town of Haren contains among others the following residential areas:
 * Hemmen
 * Maarwold
 * Molenbuurt
 * Oosterhaar
 * Stationsbuurt
 * Voorveld

Transport
In addition to Haren railway station, there are regular bus services to and from Groningen, Assen and Emmen.

Groningen Airport Eelde is nearby, albeit with a limited number of regular international flight destinations. Leisure flights to different international destinations are scheduled throughout the year.

Politics
The municipal council of Haren had 17 seats. The table below gives political party and seat counts since 1998.

The last executive board consisted of VVD, PvdA and D66.

There was an election in November 2018 for the council of the newly expanded Groningen municipality that commenced work on 1 January 2019, replacing Haren council.