The runway in Ruzyně will not be built for now, the NSS has upheld the complaint

Brno - The new runway at Prague-Ruzyně airport will probably not be built for the time being. The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) today annulled the amendment to the zoning plan that allowed the project. It granted a complaint from Petr Hlávka and Miloš Bělohradský from Prague-Nebušice, who protested against the construction. The Prague City Hall made several errors in approving the amendment, for example, it did not discuss the comments of the complainants or the boroughs. The City Hall's statement is being sought by CTK.
The City Hall claimed that it fulfilled all legal conditions and furthermore denied the authority of the Supreme Administrative Court to decide on amendments to the zoning plan. However, the Senate led by NSS Chairman Josef Baxa concluded that the zoning plan is an act of general nature, even though it is published by way of an ordinance that can otherwise only be annulled by the Constitutional Court. "The nature of the amendment to the zoning plan is undeniable," said Baxa. He referred to pre-war case law of the administrative court and to international law.
According to Baxa, the City Hall acted arbitrarily and unsustainably when it denied Hlávka and Bělohradský participation in the building proceedings on the grounds that they were not concerned. "The procedure was illegal," stated Baxa. It was also a mistake that the council did not decide on the essential comments from the boroughs and did not take into account the objections from the Ministry of the Environment. "Approval was not granted by the Environmental Department of the City Hall either. If preparations continued without approval, then the procedure was also illegal in this respect," Baxa stated.
The majority of residents in the boroughs of Nebušice and Přední Kopanina already expressed opposition to the planned construction in local referendums in 2004. The construction was also disliked by the Ministry of the Environment and the boroughs of Suchdol and Lysolaje. The local municipalities were concerned about the insufficient discussion of changes and the impact of the construction on life in the neighborhoods.
The runway was supposed to move closer to the city center by 1,525 meters compared to the current airport boundaries. Noise would increase particularly over Nebušice, which are almost aligned with the runway. "Already, the airport poses a health threat to me and my family," claims one of the complainants, Hlávka. The City Hall, it is said, neglects residents in a significant part of northern, southern, and western Prague.
The airport has long argued that, thanks to the new runway, it would almost stop using the secondary runway, which planes approach through Prague. Therefore, noise would decrease in an area that bothers 150,000 people while increasing only in sparsely built areas, airport director Hana Černochová said earlier. "However, no one guaranteed that the original runway would be canceled with the construction of the new one," countered Hlávka.
The amendment to the zoning plan was created based on a special law that declared the construction of the third runway to be in the public interest. The airport is now preparing for the construction, conducting environmental impact assessments, and purchasing land. The construction, estimated at five to seven billion, was supposed to start next year, with completion planned for 2009.

---

NSS did not decide on the amendment to the zoning plan of Prague in connection with Ruzyně >