Prague wants to leave municipalities the right to urban planning in the construction law

Prague – The leadership of Prague wants to ensure through amendments to the building law that municipalities retain the right to decide on urban planning, can create their own building regulations, and be able to complete ongoing urban plans. The city's demands were summarized into the so-called Four Urban Articles, which were presented to journalists today by Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates), his deputy Petr Hlaváček (TOP 09), and the director of the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) Ondřej Boháč. City representatives are negotiating with MPs across parties to present the proposed changes in Parliament. The aim of the new law is primarily to expedite construction. According to Minister of Regional Development Klára Dostálová, the transition to creating urban planning documentation must not threaten the strategic interests of the state.

"Unfortunately, the current form of the law amendment does not aim to strengthen self-governments and their powers. Accelerating the building process will not happen by relocating all officials to one place," said Hřib.

Prague was the first to raise the demand that cities retain the authority to decide on urban planning, which they would lose if the current draft of the law is approved. "Cities should be the ones to plan, as they understand their needs best, not the state," said Boháč.

The second point requests that cities have the right to their own building regulations. Boháč stated that each city develops differently and that this approach cannot be centralized. Many cities, including Prague, Brno, and Liberec, have developed new urban plans. If the law passes unchanged, they may have to discard these plans, meaning that their efforts will be in vain. The last point discusses the rights of municipalities regarding self-governance. "We are not to be spectators in urban processes but their key actors," said Boháč.

According to Dostálová, large cities are right in that they must have a strong tool to influence the development of their areas. And that is urban planning. "The permitting of buildings is more of a technical matter, which should be managed by a professional state construction administration. On this principle, we agree and I have long supported it," Dostálová told ČTK. However, she stated that the legal wording of such adaptation is a different matter. As she mentioned, the transition of the creation of urban planning documentation to self-governments is a relatively fundamental change with broad implications and must not threaten the strategic interests of the state, for instance, in the construction of highways, railways, or transmission systems.

"Another problem we encountered was that smaller municipalities do not want to create urban plans themselves, as they lack the funds and personnel capacity. We also encountered disagreements from ministries," Dostálová added. She also pointed out that the current version of the building law includes its own building regulations for Prague, Brno, and Ostrava. "We have also accommodated by extending the validity of urban plans that were set to expire next year," noted Dostálová.

Hlaváček stated that it is important to focus not only on the speed of building permits but also on urban planning. If there is no agreement at this stage, the entire process will not accelerate according to him. Consensus among all actors in the process should be achieved specifically in the planning phase, and this is expected to happen at the municipal level.

The city has unsuccessfully negotiated its comments with the Ministry of Regional Development. It is now also negotiating with MPs to present the changes and adjust the draft law. "The ten largest Czech cities generate nearly 80 percent of the GDP of the whole of Czechia. If the state does not heed their call, there is a risk of stagnation in their development and consequently an economic decline, which will quickly manifest in every Czech municipality," said Boháč.

The Chamber of Deputies has been discussing the draft law since the beginning of March. Instead of the original proposal from the ministry, the MPs voted for a comprehensive amendment from the parliamentary economic committee, which plans to transfer all building authorities under the state. Currently, they fall under municipal offices, even though they perform so-called delegated powers of state administration, which local politicians are not allowed to interfere with.

The building law has been in preparation for several years and has sparked disputes. The Ministry of Regional Development expects, among other things, faster permitting of large constructions. Reservations have been raised by the Ministry of Culture, self-governing bodies, and some civic and ecological organizations.