Czech Republic – Response to Case 2007
Paper Czech Republic Polderadeel case
Highway approach to Polderadeel, new industrial area, new residential area, new regional park. The question of possible contribution of the developers (co-financing), the question of a planned area of high wind turbines.
A. What kind of regulation does apply in your country in a case like this?
The system of land use planning and development is regulated in the CR by the Act on the town and country planning and on building regulations (No. 183/2006 Coll.) and by relevant Government decrees.
The municipal council issues the plan for its own territory; in case that the plan does not comply any more with the municipality development, a change in the plan is procured and issued.
At the regional level, the planning documentation of a region (Principles of spatial development) is to be obligatorily elaborated and issued. The plan must comply with the principles of spatial development. The principles of spatial development include, among others, the delimitation of public infrastructure areas and corridors (transport and technical infrastructure), having, above all, supra-local signification and impact on the territory of several municipalities.
The location of structures and/or public amenities, the changes in land use and the protection of important public interests within a territory can take place based on the planning permission issued by the Building Office as a result of planning proceedings.
The issued regulatory plan, being binding for decision-making process in the territory, is the instrument which, in the approved extent of planning area, substitutes the planning permission.
The municipality or the region can conclude a planning agreement with the applicant asking for issuance of regulatory plan. The Building Office can conclude the planning agreement with the applicant asking for planning permission. The planning agreement is a contract on the participation in the construction of a new public infrastructure or on the adaptation of the existing one (e.g. construction of ground roadways, railways, waterways, water mains, waste water sewage, waste water treatment plants, transformer stations, power distribution lines, etc.)
The location of high wind turbines is regulated, in addition to legal regulations, by two guidelines:
- The guideline of the Ministry for Regional Development and of the Ministry of Environment, for the co-ordination of planning of high wind turbines in the planning documentation and planning materials;
- The guideline of the Ministry of Environment, concerning the selected aspects within the procedure of permission issuance by nature protection authorities according to the article 12 and possible further decisions according to the Act No. 114/1992 Coll. (Act on nature and landscape protection), in connection with the localization of high wind turbines.
B. Do supra local authorities have the regulatory power regarding the location and realization of provisions like highways, industrial areas and wind turbine parks?
The development concept of major public infrastructures, e.g. highways, is determined by the sector (branch) development documents. The location of development programmes on the territory is to be made by means of appropriate planning instruments.
If the above mentioned development programmes are determined in the Principles of spatial development (see point A), these have to be included in the local plans of corresponding municipalities.
If a development programme covering the territory of only a single municipality is concerned, this municipality will make decision on this programme, e.g. on location of an industrial area, in the local plan (see point A).
If a highway is concerned, the municipality interest in the change would have to be coordinated with the development programme included in the Principles of spatial development.
High wind turbines have to be located on the territory in localities determined by the corresponding guideline. The wind intensity and its operating time distribution during the year are the crucial factors. If the municipality is situated in the recommended locality, the location of high wind turbines must be a part of the issued plan or of its change.
C. Do public authorities have the power to force developers, who own the land, to contribute in the cost of public amenities? What are the limits in this respect?
A municipality or a region can condition the regulatory plan issuance by concluding the agreement for planning (see point A). The Building Office can interrupt the planning permission proceedings in case that the development programme imposes such requirements on the public infrastructure that it can not be realized without building the corresponding new structures and public amenities or without adaptation of the existing ones, and calls the applicant to submit the agreement for planning.
D. In which way municipalities have the power to regulate the management of built residential areas?
The municipality has the possibility to determine the area spatial disposition by local or regulatory plan.
Further on, the municipality is a participant in the planning proceedings. It means that it can raise objections towards the protection of the municipality and its citizens interests. An agreement should be reached, during the planning permission proceedings, between the municipality which has raised the objection and the applicant for planning decision. If the agreement has not been reached, the Building Office will decide on the objection.
After the issuance of planning permission, the municipality can no more regulate the management of new residential area development and so much the more the appointing of management staff and further self-government of built residential areas (housing associations).
Ms. Alena Navrátilová Institute of Spatial Development Brno Czech Republic