Hertogin Hedwigepolder

During this war, Dutch soldiers in 1584 for strategic reasons (inundation) breached the last intact dikes, after which Saeftinghe disappeared under water.

In the 17th century, diking started again, and in 1907 the Hedwigepolder was the last area in the eastern corner of Zeelandic Flanders that was conquered from the sea.

[6] The plan to depolder the Hedwigepolder led to resistance within the Provincial Council of Zeeland and within the Dutch House of Representatives.

[5] The Belgian landowner Gery de Cloedt also refused to sell his land in the Hedwigepolder, stalling the depoldering.

[6] After the Dutch Senate also opposed the plans in 2008, Verburg announced that he would look for alternatives in a larger area than had been searched until then.

[7] The Western Scheldt Nature Restoration Committee then conducted research into the alternatives under the leadership of former minister Ed Nijpels.

The committee concluded that the original plan for depoldering the Hedwigepolder was the best, because other alternatives were more expensive and more complicated, or were too far away to contribute to the nature around the Western Scheldt.

[12] The Zeeland Milieufederatie had brought the case out of dissatisfaction with the decision not to depolder the Hedwigepolder[13] and argued that the deepening of the Scheldt would affect nature.