News of: Saturday, February 03 2007,
The windmill 'De Otter' is not to be moved out of Amsterdam. First, a new investigation about the wind situation around the windmill has to be carried out.
This has been decided by the Raad van State (Council of State, the country's highest administrative court).
De Otter, a wood sawing windmill built around 1630 and the only remaining wood sawing mill in Amsterdam, is located just West of the Jordaan district. The neighbourhood council 'Westerpark' had initiated apartment buildings around the windmill. These high buildings caused the wind to diminish to such a level that the windmill management decided to stop operating it.
The windmill management says the mill needs to operate in order to remain in good condition. After a lot of protests against the building projects, they decided they wanted to move the windmill to an industrial heritage park in Uitgeest, 25 km North of Amsterdam.
The neighbourhood council Westerpark is against this plan, and a series of court cases followed.
With the current judgement, it is now uncertain whether the windmill will ever be moved to the park in Uitgeest.
See also our page about the windmills in Amsterdam.
