Visitors to windmill De Zwaan in Vinkel have to park their car and then walk 500 meters on a sandy road. Also the elderly and the disabled. The path to the mill is only intended for walkers and cyclists. Yet there are also cars driving every day. Local residents and the city council now want to close the path. Hans van de Ven of the De Vinkelse Molen Foundation is angry. “Visitors and employees who depend on the car are thus excluded. A shame.”
Windmill De Zwaan has been in the middle of nature in Vinkel since 2020. But the access road was not taken into account enough during construction. The zoning plan states that cars are not allowed on the only road to the mill. And so the mill is officially inaccessible for people who cannot walk or cycle 500 meters.
“Most Vinkelnars see us as the people who whine.”
Yet it happens every day that motorists – sometimes out of ignorance – drive into the road. “Nowhere is it indicated that there is a ban on motorized traffic. If I’m sitting in the living room or backyard, I hear cars driving down the path several times a day. Our peace is gone,” says an angry neighbor. “If we say something about it, most Vinkelnaren see us as the people who whine, but the board does not fulfill the agreements made.”
But according to the De Vinkelse Molen Foundation, it is not their fault that cars drive on the Molenpad. “The path belongs to the municipality, so we cannot enforce it. We do, however, send unwitting visitors back to the parking lot at the beginning of the sandy path. But people who have difficulty walking or have a disability can park at the mill.”
“If the road is closed, the mill will become inaccessible for many people.”
To solve the problem, the council decided a year ago to permanently close the Molenpad to cars. This came as a surprise to the foundation.
“The mill is a meeting place for older and vulnerable people. People with disabilities work there and there is a catering company. If the road is closed to cars, the mill will become inaccessible for many people. That is sad.”
Local residents see it differently. “People with walking difficulties, but also tourists who come by car, have bad luck. Then you shouldn’t have built the mill in the middle of nature,” says a woman who lives close to the mill.
“It is not the intention that everyone comes to the mill by car.”
Despite the plan of the college, nothing has come of the closure. 50PLUS hopes it will stay that way and wants cars to be able to continue driving on the Molenpad. A majority of the city council agrees, but only for people who otherwise cannot reach the mill.
“It is really not the intention that everyone comes to the mill by car. Most visitors can walk that part fine. We do not want to exclude the disabled and hope that they can continue to come to the mill by car,” says chairman Hans van de Ven of Stichting De Vinkelse Molen.
Alderman Roy Geers does not want to change the zoning plan, but wants to think about a good solution in the short term, together with the local residents and the foundation.
