Major concerns about additional trees at Ceresmolen: “Roeds can break”

“Trees that are too tall form a wind obstacle, which means that the mill does not get the full wind. This obstacle causes the wind to rise and you get irregular pressure on your blade system. This can cause the rods to break.”

According to Roersma, there are dozens of trees around the mill that conflict with the guidelines of the mill biotope. This means that no construction should take place within a radius of one hundred meters from the mill. “From a distance of one hundred meters to three hundred meters, building heights of up to eight meters are allowed. There are already trees of at least twelve meters high within a hundred meters of this mill.”

The municipality, together with students from De Molenwiek primary school, has built a playground behind the mill. In addition to the trees that have been near the mill for years, additional trees planted. Due to “climate adaptation and heat stress”, the extra trees should provide more shade during the summer, says councilor Nico Slagter.

“Nowadays we as a municipality have to deal with several issues, not only with tree guidelines. Also in the context of climate adaptation, such as heat stress and biodiversity,” says Slagter. “At the same time, we also have to take into account the generation of solar energy in residential areas. The subject of ‘trees’ is quite diverse and we have to take into account all kinds of parties and agencies in order to give it the best possible interpretation. This is also the reason why we decided to create more shade areas – especially in this playground where children play.”

Pruning

Slagter does indicate that he wants to achieve this “in such a way that the trees do not grow too high”, around six to seven meters. “We will also ensure that – especially when the trees start to get bigger – they are also pruned in time and do not grow too tall.”

Roersma says he understands the need to build additional homes and plant additional trees. “There is a housing shortage, so if the municipality has found space to build a new residential area, we are absolutely not against it. And we understand that it has to stack, but then put such a building on the other side of the new residential area. and not near the mill. That is also the case for trees. Again: we are absolutely not against greenery in the municipality. Green is just part of it. But try to keep trees around the mill a little lower, because when I look around here, I see trees that exceed this many times over. And that is what we think is a shame,” says Roersma.