New ladder for sustainable urbanization as of July 1, 2017: two new guides for practice!

On June 28, 2017, the Administrative Law Division of the Council of State (the Division) published a so-called "overview ruling" on the application of the ladder for sustainable urbanization. This ruling provides the main lines of case law regarding the requirements that a zoning plan that allows for new urban development must meet. This overview ruling can be found here. Earlier, on May 31, 2017, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment already published a new guide to the application of the ladder, which you can consult here.  

The overview ruling and the new ladder

In the summary judgment, the Division first briefly discusses the amendment to the Bro as of July 1, 2017. With the amendment of the ladder, three paragraphs of Section 3.1.6 of the Spatial Planning Decree are amended. As before, these paragraphs impose requirements on the explanation for a zoning plan that allows for new urban development. The new third paragraph makes it possible for a zoning plan to stipulate that the description of the need for a new urban development and the reasons for this must first be included in the explanatory memorandum for an amendment or development plan.

The changes made to the ladder aim to simplify it and reduce the burden of research, but the effectiveness of the instrument must be maintained. Thus, the amendment is not intended to change the purpose of the regulation. This also affects the "tenability" of case law. Indeed, with respect to the "old" ladder, the Administrative Law Division has already developed extensive case law, which will therefore largely remain relevant from July 1, 2017. That case law is now listed.

The new ladder has been taken into account

The Ministry's new guide also contains many references to case law. In addition, practitioners can take advantage of the guide with guidance and considerations regarding calculating need, supply/demand confrontations, et cetera.

Thus, both documents/manuals are useful for working with the new ladder. So the practice does not have to reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of this!

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