The court in Pardubice annulled part of the zoning plan of Pardubice near the railway station

Pardubice – The court in Pardubice has annulled part of the zoning plan of Pardubice in the area behind the shopping zone by the train station. This follows from a judgment that ČTK requested from the Regional Court in Hradec Králové. The investor wants to build more commercial spaces in the area and has already received a zoning decision. Environmental activists, who challenged the city's zoning plan with a lawsuit, are satisfied, although the court has not yet addressed the annulment of the zoning decision. They consider the area near the significant landscape element of a horseshoe with a blind arm of the Elbe to be a valuable natural site. Pardubice is still waiting for the justification of the judgment.

"We are convinced that we have evidence that the authorities responsible for protecting natural values and following the Nature Conservation Act when issuing changes to the zoning plan and zoning decisions did not do so properly," said Miroslav Seiner, chairman of the Civic Association We Protect Trees, which filed the lawsuit, to ČTK. According to him, the court also issued a preliminary measure suspending the zoning decision.

The area in the location was originally classified as landscape greenery in the zoning plan and thus was not buildable. Later, due to the intention of a road connector as a public benefit building which was supposed to run through there, it was changed to buildable. When the connector disappeared from the plans after years, the designation for greenery was supposed to be restored according to Seiner. However, the German investor, who bought the land in the meantime, proposed and pushed for a change in the zoning plan for concentrated civic amenities. "In our opinion, the public interest in the construction of a shopping center does not outweigh the interest in nature conservation. It would be different for linear construction," noted Seiner.

Pardubice will comment on the regional court's decision only when they have a written version of the judgment available, as they cannot form an opinion without the details contained in it. "In general, it can be said that the court's decision may affect the activities of a private investor, not the statutory city of Pardubice," stated the spokesperson for the magistrate, Radim Jelínek.

Activists have also repeatedly suggested that a large ash tree around 160 years old growing in the area should be declared a memorial tree. Ultimately, on the third attempt, they succeeded, and the developer appealed against the magistrate's decision. However, before that, the investor had cut down all other trees, and the city halted his further actions at the behest of environmentalists, which was confirmed by the regional office.