If there is one or more Special Trees on your land, you can apply for a grant to cover management and maintenance work, as well as for a technical tree survey of your Special Tree. The aim is to preserve the tree and, in doing so, the historic green character of Apeldoorn.
Management and/or maintenance work
For work required to maintain your Special Tree, you can receive a grant of up to 50%, subject to a maximum of €500 per Special Tree. The work must be carried out by a certified tree care company. You can find this on the website of the Tree Foundation, if you would prefer another company, the person carrying out the work must hold a valid European Tree Worker certificate.
The council’s tree specialist will assess your grant application. You must pre-fund the costs of the work yourself. Once the grant has been approved, you must submit an invoice within one year at the latest.
Tree survey
You can receive a grant to have a tree survey carried out, up to a maximum of €500 per Special Tree. The survey must be carried out by a certified arborist or tree care company. This involves an assessment to determine the safety of the tree and its immediate surroundings, or to identify the management measures required to preserve the tree. This is a technical survey and not a routine tree safety inspection or pruning advice. Reasons for such a survey might include, for example, mushrooms growing on the tree, or the presence of hollows or cracks in the tree.
You will need to pay the costs of the research yourself up front. Once the grant has been approved, you must submit an invoice within one year at the latest.
Seek advice in advance
We recommend that, before starting the work, you check whether any funding is still available for the current year, and whether the work or research you have planned is eligible for this funding. You can do this via bijzonderebomen@apeldoorn.nl. You will then receive advice from the council’s tree specialist.
Further details and exceptions can be found in the grant scheme.
If you have any questions, please contact the tree specialist via bijzonderebomen@apeldoorn.nl.
- You own a tree that has been designated a ‘Special Tree’:
Are you the owner of a tree that is these characteristics meets the criteria but has not yet been granted ‘Special Tree’ status? You can submit a request to the tree specialist via bijzonderebomen@apeldoorn.nl. He or she will process your application and, if it is approved, will submit it to the board. Once the board has reached a decision and the decision has been made available for inspection, you will be eligible for the grant scheme.
Notable trees in Apeldoorn are trees that have been specifically designated as being 80 years old or older. These magnificent trees make a significant contribution to Apeldoorn’s historic green character. This entails a responsibility on the part of the owner to maintain the tree. The council owns around half of these special trees. The other half are owned by private individuals.
Compared with other trees, special trees enjoy extra protection:
Under the General Local Regulation (APV)
Protection of the tree itself. The tree may not be felled without a permit. A felling permit may only be issued in urgent cases (for example, if the tree is dead or poses a significant and unacceptable risk to the surrounding area)
Through the Local Plan / Environmental Plan
To protect the tree, it is important not only to protect the trunk and the crown, but also the root zone. The root zone is the area of soil in which the roots grow. This is where the tree draws water and nutrients from. To protect the root zone, no construction, compaction or digging should take place around the tree. If you wish to do so anyway, you will need a development consent and/or planning permission:
- Measured from the centre of the tree, no building work may be carried out within a 10-metre radius of the tree, or may only be carried out subject to certain conditions and with a permit.
- Measured from the centre of the tree, no hard surfacing or digging is permitted within a 5-metre radius of the tree, or is only permitted subject to certain conditions and with a permit. Examples include the construction of a car park, a paved path or the laying of pipes.
A tree survey forms part of the planning application.
To help you, as the owner of a special tree, fulfil your responsibility for its conservation, you can receive a grant towards the costs you incur for:
- Management and maintenance work
- Tree survey (to assess the tree’s health and safety).