Turin:after months of struggle the citizens managed to save the trees of Corso Belgio

In Turin, an order from the civil judge accepted the urgent appeal made by numerous citizens regarding the tree-lined Corso Belgio, who have been fighting for months against a redevelopment project decided by the Municipality aimed at replacing 240 maples with smaller trees .While stating that the cutting of trees will still continue, the ordinance established that the fellings they must not be carried out within the 18 month limit originally established by the Municipality and that the cuts can be spread over agreed lots in order to reduce the impact on the neighborhood "within the time frame of 5 years" and within the annual quota of 20%.Furthermore, the felled trees will have to be replaced with sized plants considerably greater than originally expected.The real novelty, however, lies in the fact that the ordinance establishes two fundamental principles.The first is the active legitimation for the citizen to turn to the ordinary judge for the protection of his right to health.The second is that greenery in the city contributes significantly to the containment of heat and therefore to the health of citizens.

After almost a year, the legal dispute over the tree-lined Corso Belgio ends with the partial acceptance of the appeal presented by the citizens and the municipality being condemned to pay the legal costs.The "Let's save the trees of Corso Belgio" Committee rejoices, writing in a note speaks of a sentence"destined to practice law”, which “recognizes the damage to health that the project would cause (and has caused)”.In the press release, the members of the Committee stated that the ruling recognized that, "if carried out as the Administration wanted, for large lots and in a maximum time of 18 months, the project would have caused the applicants (and the other inhabitants of the area ) damage to health”, having been “confirmed the general connection between excess temperature and health, in terms not only of hospital admissions but also of mortality".The Committee also expressed satisfaction with the fact that the judge "read the reference to the 'urban forest' contained in the CTU's final report in a favorable sense to the appellants", after the Municipality's lawyers had "disputed the active legitimacy of some citizens non-residents in Corso Belgio".In fact, "if the 'relevance of the urban forest' is to be considered 'as a whole' - the citizens write -, then the legitimate interest in defending the right to health it is not limited to residents in the precise place where the killing takes place", but "it extends to the inhabitants of the area and potentially to the entire citizenry".

As a Legambiente report demonstrated, Turin is the most polluted city in Italy, having more than doubled the limits set by the WHO regarding the concentration of PM10 (fine polluting particles) in the air.Also and above all for this reason, the Committee has reinvigorated his battle for the defense of public green spaces, with the aim of preserving his own ecosystem and mitigation functions.The redevelopment of Corso Belgio had been decided with the decides n.528 of 26 July 2022 which stated that the tree was "in critical conditions" without however referring to any scientific document that demonstrated this.Furthermore, the Municipality did not provide any evidence even following the requests made by the citizens.The Committee to defend the tree-lined area had therefore chosen to take legal action, presenting an urgent appeal to the Civil Judge for the protection of the right to health.

[by Stefano Baudino]