| Haren | |
| Settlement Type: | Town, former municipality |
| Flag Size: | 100x67px |
| Pushpin Map: | Netherlands Groningen#Netherlands |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands |
| Map Alt: | Highlighted position of Haren in a municipal map of Groningen |
| Coordinates: | 53.1667°N 42°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Netherlands |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Groningen |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Groningen |
| Extinct Title: | Merged |
| Extinct Date: | 2019 |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 17.44 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation M: | 7 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 12,835 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Demonym: | Harenaar |
| Timezone1: | CET |
| Utc Offset1: | +1 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postcode |
| Postal Code: | 9751-9751 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 050 |
Haren (in Dutch; Flemish ˈɦaːrə(n)/; 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.[3]
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.
The town of Haren contains among others the following residential areas:
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.
The municipal council of Haren had 17 seats. The table below gives political party and seat counts since 1998.
| Municipal council seats | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | 2010 | 2014 | ||||||||||
| D66 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Common Sense Haren | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||
| VVD | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||
| CDA | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| PvdA | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||
| GreenLeft | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| ChristianUnion | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Total | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | ||||||||||
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.[4]