“We have three chestnut trees brutally felled.
The corpses are lying down until further notice.”
Disgust can be seen on Patrick Chevrenel's face.
After a year and a half of action and battle in the courts, this Thursday, February 15, 2024, marks the end of the Courtille chestnut trees in Chartres (Eure-et-Loir).
At dawn, the three trees, which stood at almost 25 meters, were sawn down.
“They weren't even pruned in advance, to do it as quickly as possible.
The company with its chainsaws cut the trunks about a meter from the ground,” notes the dismayed president of ADEAC (Association for the Defense of the Environment of the Chartrain Agglomeration).
At number 24, on the former headquarters of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts of Eure-et-Loir, construction of the real estate project should therefore resume after a battle with environmental activists.
The fight for the chestnut trees began on August 22, 2022. Around thirty activists took turns for 37 days on the site to prevent the massacre of trees located in a classified wooded area.
The effort was finally lost this Thursday morning.
For the former architect, disgust predominates.
“I am disgusted, these trees were over a hundred years old.
They brought freshness,” recalls the ecologist.
A new municipal decree has opened the way for the cull
This felling was made possible by a non-opposition order signed last month by the municipality.
Annulled in November by the Orléans administrative court, the decree was revised by the city.
“The person responsible for this massacre is the mayor.
He established a PLU which authorizes the construction of very tall buildings with a very wide footprint,” denounces the activist.
Three Henry lime trees will therefore be planted in place of the chestnut trees.
Trees “which will be twice as small”, complains the president who had filed a gracious appeal.
“Who will check what they plant, who will ensure the trees grow and who will ultimately see that they will have the same importance as these chestnut trees?
It’s a show off,” says Patrick Chevrenel.
Read alsoIn Chartres, the city promises a thousand new trees planted by 2026
Dejected, but not totally discouraged, the manager still hopes to develop the real estate project which “will offer a blind wall 3.70 meters high in front of a belle époque house.
It’s an aggressive project, against the trees and this house,” this Chartrain exclaims.
Realistically, the chestnut defender has very little hope.
“This felling is a coup by the town hall and the developer.
They should still rely on our reservations and carry out this project,” laments Patrick Chevrenel.
Contacted, the town hall of Chartres asserts that it was not aware of the felling of the chestnut trees and assures that it is “conducting the investigation to find out who cut down the trees”.
However, it has not yet provided a response to the new decree of non-opposition to slaughter...