Let’s Roll Up Our Sleeves Together to Tackle Overhanging Greenery
Branches hanging over the sidewalk, bushes blocking the view—these are nuisances for both pedestrians and other road users. By working together, the municipality encourages residents to keep Voorschoten beautiful and safe.
Voorschoten is known for its beautiful green spaces. We’d like to keep it that way. But too much greenery can cause problems. Think of overhanging branches from a private yard or vegetation growing through a fence. That leaves no room for a pedestrian with a walker or a stroller. Or consider a shrub that blocks the view of a street sign, streetlights, or traffic around the corner.
More attractive, safer, and more accessible
To make Voorschoten even more beautiful, safer, and more accessible, municipal employees decided to help residents. Over the past few weeks, they rolled up their sleeves and worked together at various locations throughout the village. The municipality shared a video of this on Facebook and Instagram. We hope that seeing how much fun they’re clearly having will inspire other residents to get involved as well.
What exactly is overhanging greenery?
Private trees should be pruned back to the property line, unless they do not cause a nuisance. Pruning is required in any case if a sidewalk is only 1.5 meters wide. Otherwise, there will not be enough space left for pedestrians. As for height, you can use 2.20 meters as a guideline. If branches hang lower than that over the sidewalk, they must be trimmed. If branches hang higher, trimming isn’t necessary. After all, at that height, they don’t bother pedestrians. In fact, the shade is quite pleasant!
If the municipality has no choice but to enforce the law
The municipality is confident that we’ll achieve the greatest results by working together and explaining why pruning is necessary. But please note: your cooperation is not optional. If we receive a report from a resident about overhanging vegetation in the neighborhood, the municipal enforcement officers will take action. And to be fair: if the report concerns overhanging vegetation owned by the municipality, that’s something we need to address ourselves!
Want to know more?
Take another good look at your front or back yard. Do you see any overhanging vegetation there? Set aside some time to prune it. Would you like to learn more about this? Visit www.voorschoten.nl/overhangend-groen. Or call the municipality at 14071.