VDL Nedcar and conservationists have reached an agreement. The car factory will soon be able to start cutting down the Sterrebos and the last activists who have occupied the Sterrebos since January 28 will be removed from the forest.
On Tuesday morning, the police started clearing the occupied Sterrebos next to car manufacturer VDL Nedcar in Born in Limburg. The activists who tried to prevent the felling of the forest are removed from the trees. VDL has now concluded an agreement with other conservationists, which means that the expansion of the factory is final.
Two activist groups started a lawsuit against the plans, because they were against the felling of trees. Now that there is an agreement between VDL Nedcar and the action groups, they are withdrawing their objection. This clears the way to start felling the trees. However, the car factory has made agreements about nature compensation. This means, among other things, that 55 trees from the Sterrebos will be replanted. VDL Nedcar is also going to expand a forest on the edge of the town of Nieuwstadt, which is located next to the car factory. In addition, new green areas will be planted near Nieuwstadt. According to VDL, the costs for nature compensation run into millions of euros.
VDL Nedcar has been wanting to expand the factory for some time now to make it more attractive for a new client. The current client, BMW, will be packing up at the end of next year. AutoWeek understood from an insider last week that a new client (probably American Rivian) is about to sign a production contract. Green light for factory expansion would be the last condition to be met. Now that can become reality and it seems a matter of time before white smoke comes out of Born.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl