Bellewaerde Park Proposes Removal of 223 Trees Near Ypres for Solar Canopy Installation

Ypres (Eurotoday Newspaper): Bellewaerde Amusement Park wants to cut down 223 trees in Parking Mexico to put up solar panels. Stefan Lemey, the park director, says the trees block sunlight and are unsafe. Activist Ivan De Clerk thinks they should find a different spot for the panels to protect local wildlife.

Bellewaerde Amusement Park plans to cut down 223 trees in the ‘Parking Mexico’ area near Zonnebeke to make way for canopies with solar panels. This is part of their goal to use renewable energy. The park says that removing the trees is necessary and looked at other options, like a wind turbine, but decided against it because it would spoil the view of the area. They also found that building a solar park nearby would harm the farmland around the park.

Is Bellewaerde Amusement Park justified in cutting trees for solar canopies?

It has said that the trees would block the installation and create shade, making the panels less effective. But Ivan De Clerk, a tree activist from Bruges, thinks the park should find other places for the panels instead. He is working with a group called Bescherm Bomen en Natuur to protect trees. De Clerk checked the trees and found them to be healthy and around 30 years old. He also mentioned that local bats and buzzards could lose their homes if the trees are removed.

Stefaan Lemey, the director of Bellewaerde Amusement Park, supports the tree removal project. He says the park will plant new trees in Heuvelland as compensation, even though it doesn’t have to. The current trees were planted for the parking lot, but they are getting too big. Some need to be removed for safety reasons because they can’t handle strong winds anymore. Lemey insists that they are following all the rules, including those for the environment.