The spatial planning reform was one of the most important topics of the 16th edition of the Poznan 'Urban Planner's Day' conference. This year's edition of the event was organised under the motto 'In the maze of reform'. Experts discussed, among other things, the effects of the introduced legal changes on the renewable energy sector and wind energy development. Krzysztof Szlubowski, who heads the Sevivon urban planning team, shared his experience with the audience.
7 July 2023. The Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted the most far-reaching amendment to the Act on Planning and Spatial Development to date. Most of the amendment's provisions came into force on 24 September 2023. The parliament's decisions are one of the key steps in the reform of the planning and spatial development system. Changes to the law have been called for by urban planners, local government officials and investors for years.
During the event, attention was drawn to the obligation introduced in 2023 setting a deadline for municipalities to adopt general plans to replace the municipalities' spatial planning studies by the end of 2025. Experts have sounded the alarm that, as a result of the indication of this date as a cut-off date, if the general plans are not enacted by the indicated deadline, the studies will become invalid, new local plans will not be able to be enacted and zoning decisions will not be issued. It is worth noting that covering the country with general plans is one of the milestones of the National Reconstruction Plan, hence the chances of postponing this deadline are diminishing.
Participants at the Urban Planner's Day also discussed the challenges facing companies in the renewable energy sector. This is because the amended Planning and Spatial Development Act contains a number of key provisions on local plans. They will directly affect the process of locating RES installations, with the exception of wind power plants, which are regulated by a separate act.
Krzysztof Szlubowski, representing Sevivon, emphasised that 'with the current provisions of the Wind Power Act, dynamic development of green energy sources will be difficult to achieve'. He stressed that there is currently a provision in place regarding the 'impossibility of parallel planning and environmental procedures'. As a result, an onshore wind farm project today takes an average of six to eight years to develop. According to the Sevivon representative, also the imposition of a number of additional obligations on investors, for example involving so-called 'nearby municipalities', complicates the entire investment process.
During the Urban Planner's Day, an opinion was voiced by representatives of the RES sector that the introduced planning reform is associated with a number of additional difficulties, making the already complex planning process for a wind farm, even more complicated.
The Urban Planning Day conference "In the maze of the reform" was organised by the Society of Polish Town Planners, Poznań Branch together with the Poznań International Fair and the National Institute of Urban Planning and Architecture. Sevivon, PNE AG, was a partner of the 16th edition of the event.
Media patrons of this year's edition of the event were BiznesAlert.pl, green-news.pl, Teraz Środowisko, WysokieNapiecie.pl.