Demonstration and resistance to widening A27, now that the province of Utrecht is also against it

“This is exactly the route decision that was overturned by the Council of State last year because of nitrogen,” Jos Kloppenburg, chairman of the Friends of Amelisweerd said earlier. RTV Utrecht. “Now there are means to compensate nitrogen nuisance, says the minister. Well, I have yet to see that. We are going to appeal against this. We see quite some opportunities to have this decision annulled as well.”

According to Anneke Wensing, who speaks on behalf of various Utrecht action groups, it is nonsense that nature is compensated. “That’s a farce. If you put new trees in place of old trees, it takes 40 years to reach the same value. That is simply not possible in times of a climate crisis.”

Part of the forest near Amelisweerd was also removed in 1982 for the construction of the A27. Campaigners tried to stop that by sitting in trees. Some even made tree houses and slept there, reports RTV Utrecht. But while there was a lawsuit on the case – and the protesters were therefore not in the trees – the trees were felled rapidly.

Series of new actions

Long ago, the municipality of Utrecht, the province and the national government made agreements about, among other things, widening the road. According to the current plans, the A27 is to become the widest highway in our country, but the municipality has been resisting the plans for some time. The province also announced its opposition for the first time last month.

“The widening of the A27 is a gift from the government to improve traffic flow”, PvdA Member of Parliament Julie d’Hondt explained to the regional broadcaster. “But we don’t want that gift at all anymore.”

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