Huge protest: planned plane on the dike - citizens defend themselves!

Huge protest: planned plane on the dike - citizens defend themselves!

Neustädter Deich, Bremen, Deutschland - A radical pruning of the plane trees at the Neustädter Deich in Bremen is currently causing considerable unrest among the residents. The citizens' initiative "Platanne am Deich" has joined together with affected residents in order to protest against the work commissioned by the environmental authority. On June 11, 2025, activists set a clear sign by interrupting the work of the horticultural company. With this campaign, you want to draw attention to the devastating effects that could have the pruning of the health and climate-protecting functions of the trees, such as Kreiszeitung reported.

The protesters criticize that the pruning during the felling rest and the breeding season may be without the necessary approval and could therefore violate the provisions of species protection law. Platans take on important tasks in urban space: they lower the ambient temperature and filter fine dust. The health -hazard residents in the nearby senior citizens' facilities are very concerned about the consequences of these measures, which are carried out in an area already highly stressed.

climate protection and flood security in conflict

The environmental authority defends the decision with the reasoning that the pruning is necessary to ensure the safety of the dikes. Without these measures, a tree fall could not only be dangerous, but also affect the region's flood security. In this context, the situation for the plane trees could prove as a tricky, especially since the pruning is also carried out for winter birds during the breeding and setting time. The procedure not only has technical, but also ethical dimensions that the initiative according to Bi-Platanen-AM dike vehemently.

Already at the beginning of the year, the environmental authority had carried out similar pruning measures on plane trees on the Becks bank. These were considered important by the citizens' initiative, because they not only endanger the preservation of the trees themselves, but also the health of health for the population. According to experts

A call to save the plane trees

In this context, the citizens' initiative calls on a festival to save the plane trees on August 17, 2025, in which the importance of these trees is to be emphasized. At the same time, the BI has collected over 26,000 signatures for a referendum that campaigns for the preservation of the plane trees. Unfortunately, the Bremen State Court previously decided that such a referendum was inadmissible, which the initiative sees as a setback for citizen participation.

The importance of city trees is undisputed. They not only contribute to biodiversity, but also improve the city climate. A Study of the Bund Naturschutz emphasizes how important it is to become a godfather for a city tree. This is particularly evident in this heated debate about the plane trees at the Neustädter Deich, where citizens' initiative and administration meet and the future of the trees in the city.