Major maintenance work in Ugchelen North East

A great opportunity for a major refurbishment

First of all, the tarmac on your street is in poor condition and needs replacing. The same applies to parts of the sewer system. This gives us the opportunity to give the streets a thorough overhaul at the same time. The tarmac will be replaced with cobblestones, which will better reflect the village’s character, along with gravel verges, traffic-calming measures and, where possible, new trees. We will also be diverting clean rainwater away from the sewer system. Beyond that, we want to keep things simple.

View the planning area on the map (jpg, 1 MB)

30 km/h

The speed limit in Ugchelen is 30 km/h. The carriageway is therefore narrow, so as not to encourage speeding. At present, the streets vary in width, ranging from approximately 5 metres to 6.5 metres, including the drainage channel. This is a slightly sunken section at the edge of the road designed to drain water away. Under the new arrangements, we intend to narrow all carriageways to 5 metres, including the drainage channel. Should motorists still be tempted to drive too fast, a number of speed bumps and raised crossings will ensure they are slowed down.

Gravel verges: the pride of Ugchelen

Ugchelen’s historic gravel banks are the pride of the town. We therefore wish to preserve them. In the past, they developed more or less naturally on the eastern side of Apeldoorn, bordering the Veluwe. Gravel that lay in the subsoil of sandy roads gradually came to the surface as a result of erosion. As traffic increased, the roads were paved with clinker bricks and cobblestones, and pedestrians were forced to the edges of the road. The gravel was probably raked outwards, which resulted in a less sandy and muddy footpath. Particularly in the 1950s, many gravel verges were replaced with the more comfortable paving slabs.

There are a relatively large number of gravel verges around the Ugchelse Beek. Reinforcing this feature helps to enhance the village’s ‘distinctive character’. The gravel verges lend the street an informal character and are multifunctional. They serve as a parking lane, a turning area, a tree pit and a water infiltration area. The gravel verge will therefore be retained on both sides of the carriageway paved with fired clinkers. 

Gravel verges as driveways

In some streets, there are now also paved driveways for parking cars on private property. In some places these are paved with paving slabs, in others with grey concrete paving stones. In yet another spot, the material used on private land is extended right up to the carriageway. In other streets, it is simply the gravel verge that serves as the driveway. Initially, we are assuming that, in the new situation, the gravel verge will serve as the driveway. Just as has been done on Westenenkerweg. This creates a very tranquil appearance, with the gravel verge running smoothly in one continuous stretch from front to back. Should you nevertheless have serious objections to this, we can, as an exception, construct a driveway using grey concrete paving stones. We aim to use this solution as little as possible. We want to avoid the gravel verge being divided into several small sections again.

Overhanging, green boundary hedges

Green front gardens with green hedges ensure that the streetscape is pleasant and green. What’s more, it’s also good for biodiversity. So it’s a win-win. The only drawback is that, over time, the width of some hedges and shrubs has got a bit out of hand in certain places. This sometimes reduces the space available for parking on the verge or means that the carriageway is narrower than desired. We would therefore like to ask these residents to trim their hedges back to the property boundary prior to the redevelopment. This will enable us to tidy up the street across its full width once again.

Questions and answers about the design

In 2023, we shared information with local residents about the new design for Ugchelen North-East. This concerns sections of the Bouwhofweg, Klein Hattem, the Derk Kamphuisweg, the Methusalemlaan and the Markendoel. We received a range of responses during the meetings and afterwards. Below you will find the most common questions and comments, along with our responses to them.

Bekijk hier de reactienota Ugchelen Noord-Oost (pdf, 116 kB)