More than three years after a devastating summer storm, the Noordenveld municipality is coming up with a plan to replace 800 felled trees. In recent years there has been no recovery due to a lack of money.
The so-called ‘tree recovery plan’ is intended to ensure that the damage caused during the summer storm of 2019 is finally undone. “The city council has asked us in 2021 to come up with an action quickly,” says responsible alderman Robert Meijer (VVD).
The plan states that the municipality wants to renew 240 trees over the next four years. It is not feasible to replant all trees in four years because of the staffing levels. “We may go to 800 later. The plan even mentions 1000 trees,” says Meijer.
That does not mean that every place where a tree fell in 2019, a new one will arise. The municipality wants to improve biodiversity and also sees that replacement is not possible in every place.
In addition, there is talk of transforming flower beds into food forests. According to Christine Stille (Lokaal Noordenveld), that plan encounters resistance. “Who cleans up the dog poop in such bushes? We can already see that it doesn’t happen by default at flower beds. And who will harvest later? Is it a question of ‘first come, first served?'”
Stille hopes that the municipality will donate a piece of greenery to the Noordenveld Food Bank. “Then they can set up a vegetable garden. That wish has been there for a long time and they have enough hands.”
Some councilors called the timing of the plan’s handling ‘unfortunate’. Last Monday there was unrest about the felling of trees in the Heerestraat in Roden. According to Tineke Nieboer (Lijst Groen Noordenveld), this does indicate how attached residents are to ‘greenery’.
Alderman Meijer emphasized once again that the felling of the trees in Heerestraat had been planned for some time. “But communication to local residents could have been better shortly before,” he admitted.
The council asks 60,000 euros annually for the tree restoration plan. The city council will make a decision on this next week.