Miejscowy plan zagospodarowania przestrzennego jako instrument ochrony środowiska

Abstract

The primary function of the local development (spatial) plan is to determine the destination of the area covered by it, including various destinations of its individual fragments. Such plan is the act of local law, generally applicable on a given territory. Consequently, it becomes the basis for many decisions relating to the use of the real estates, which also means that it becomes an instrument of environmental protection. Detailed requirements of the legal system of environmental protection frequently stipulate that decisions determining the scope and manner of such protection must be in accordance with the local development plan. In fact, local development plan while specifying the destination of the covered area, also determines the legal scope and use of the environment. In practice, these requirements function only to a limited extent. This is because: – as a principle, adopting the local development plan is not compulsory, and as a result of a complex and expensive planning procedure only a part of the country territory is covered by such plans, – many local plans have numerous failures, primarily because of the conflict with the acts of parliament defining the detailed requirements to be met by such plans or because of the use of extremely imprecise terminology, – there is no effective mechanism for implementing the solutions of the public interest of a supracommunal character to the local development plans. For certain types of investments, this problem is solved by specific acts of law defining the detailed rules for the implementation of projects covered by them, while excluding requirements of spatial planning system.