The Supreme Administrative Court annulled the development principles of southern Moravia

Mgr. David Macek, M.A. (KDU-ČSL) is a regional councilor responsible for ensuring tasks in the area of spatial planning.

Brno - The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) has annulled the Principles of Spatial Development of the South Moravian Region. They contained corridors for the main road routes in the region. This is the most significant intervention by the court into spatial planning in the Czech Republic. According to the court, the region inadequately assessed the overall and combined impact of all road constructions on the environment and public health. "The principles of spatial development are precisely the platform for considering all cumulative and synergistic effects of individual projects," said Judge Marie Žišková.
      The leadership of the South Moravian Region will comment on the decision this afternoon at a press conference. Governor Michal Hašek (ČSSD) announced the court's decision at a municipal council meeting. He convened a council meeting due to this matter.
      A successful proposal to annul the principles was made by a group of 14 municipalities and 13 representatives of the public. The regional office must now prepare a new strategic document, which will cost millions of crowns. It is not yet clear to what extent today's decision will affect specific transport constructions. However, there is still no money for most main expressways.
      The most objections concerned road corridors, such as expressways R43, R52, R55, and highway tangents around Brno. Their construction in the proposed corridors would significantly affect life in the southern part of the Brno agglomeration, which is already excessively impacted by noise and emissions. According to the NSS, the region did not pay sufficient attention to, for example, the combined impact of constructions on Brno-Bosonohy and Troubsko with Ostopovice in the Brno area, where the expanded D1 intersects with R43 and the southwestern tangent.
      Among the dissatisfied municipalities were also localities in the Brno and Blansko regions. According to the plans, a new road R43 was supposed to run in their immediate vicinity between Brno and the Svitavy area. The court confirmed that the principles in the section Kuřim-Černá Hora incorrectly prioritized the so-called German variant over the Malhostovická variant, which proved most advantageous in terms of environmental impact assessment. The selection of corridor variants, according to the NSS, must be based on expert criteria, not political decisions.
      All proposers requested the NSS to annul the entire principles. If the court were to only strike out the disputed corridors, only an unusable wreck would remain from the documentation. The court complied with them, rejecting the proposal only in passages concerning the Dukovany hot water pipeline. However, the court has already annulled these passages in another proceeding. The court also criticized the way the region managed the public discussion of the development principles. People could only speak once for a maximum of three minutes, which the court deemed insufficient. Public discussions should be a forum for discussion. The region did not respect this requirement, thus violating the principles of decency and approachability, and the principle of public administration as a service to the public.
      Some arguments from the dissatisfied municipalities were deemed groundless by the court. For example, the judges disagreed with the claim that the principles contradicted the valid spatial development policy approved by the government. On the contrary, the alternative transport concept promoted by the dissatisfied municipalities is, as a whole, in conflict with national policy. The court also concluded that the criticized corridor R52 between Pohořelice and Mikulov was justifiably retained in the principles.
      The court publicly discussed the proposal to annul the principles on Tuesday for approximately ten hours. For the first time, it used its largest hall for this. Judge Žišková acknowledged that this proceeding has no precedent before the Supreme Administrative Court.