The plans to realize a ‘bee oasis’ in Sittard-Geleen have been scrapped. The city does not have enough financial resources to implement the plan.
Mayor Hans Verheijen wrote this in a letter to GroenLinks councilor Gitane Dumernit, who had asked questions about the progress of the project.
Motion Happy Bee
Sittard-Geleen’s plans arise from a motion that was passed on November 11, 2021. It stated, among other things, that the city council had to see if there were areas available where flowers and plants could be sown for bees. Later the idea arose to create a ‘bee oasis’. The municipality then asked IVN Limburg to draw up a project proposal.
No money
‘The proposed approach included setting up pilot areas for several years, monitoring the effects, organizing work sessions with volunteers and professionals and adjusting the management specifications’, Verheijen writes in the letter. According to the mayor, there is no money available to carry out the project.
Also read: Sittard-Geleen is developing plans for a ‘bee oasis’
Motion executed
Verheijen also states that the motion and the bee oasis project are separate from each other. ‘The motion is being carried out without prejudice. We have not been idle to make Sittard-Geleen more friendly within our regular activities’, the mayor writes. For example, flower meadows have been sown and green areas have been arranged in a bee-friendly manner.
Bee friendly
Sittard-Geleen is not the only municipality that is committed to a bee-friendly city. They also try to please the bees in Maastricht. The CNME does this, for example, on the Groene Loper above the A2 tunnel. This project – which is called the Bee Cord – received a subsidy last year.