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European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research - COST Action C11 |
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Spatial Planning in Norway National
data on planning systems Spatial
Planning Norway The
Norwegian Planning System Unn
Elphsen Norway A BRIEF SURVEY ON THE NORWEGIAN PLANNING SYSTEM,
THE FORMAL REGULATIONS CONCERNING BUILDING
ACTIVITIES AND THE SYSTEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT I .PREFACE The ownership of land has a very strong position
in Norway. The landowners can use the land as they
wish, unless restrictions are laid down. The
Planning- and Building Act contains a legal basis
for such restrictions along with several sector
acts. In fact the landowners are therefore not free
to use their property as they wish. Private ownership is dominating as concerning
land in the building areas. But the public is
mostly the owner of traffic areas and leisure
areas. There is more balance in the public and
private ownership as concerning areas of business,
industry and technical installations. Norway is divided into counties and
municipalities. On the county level the
administrative unit is called County Municipality.
Both the County Municipalities and the
Municipalities have public elected bodies that have
the power to decide on the policy within each
county or municipality. These bodies are elected
every four years. In Norway we have an extensive system of local
self-government. It is up to each County
Municipality and Municipality to organize its
activities. Each county municipality and
municipality has its own administration. The
administration prepares the matters to be dealt
with by the political bodies, that is the county
council and the municipality council. The County
Municipalities and municipalities are, to a large
extent, free to choose how to organize their
administrative bodies. The State also has an administration in each
county, - the County Governor. These government
officials are by law given different tasks as
related to control the municipal administration.
The County Governor has a strong position in
matters concerning planning and building. The
County governor has a special environment
protection division in his administration, which
has responsibility regarding nature conservation
and protection against pollution. Furthermore, the State has other administrative
bodies in the counties and in the municipalities
that deal with certain matters according to sector
laws, such as the county agricultural and forestry
offices. II.THE MAIN FEATURE OF THE PLANNING SYSTEM IN
NORWAY According to the Planning and Building Act,
planning is intended to be an integrated physical
and economic planning, including also other aspects
of society. A characteristic feature of the regional
planning system in Norway is that the authority to
prepare and approve coordinated physical and
economic plans for the municipalities and counties
is placed with the public elected bodies, the
County Councils and the Municipal Councils. The Planning and Building Act has provisions on
the ability to render administrative decisions in
the form of legally binding plans that impose
restrictions on the use of land. The land-use part
of the Master Plan and also the Local Plan and the
Building Development Plan are plans that are
legally binding. The Local Plan and the Building
Development Plan are enough to expropriate land
against fully economic compensation. The municipalities have the authority to approve
of legally binding plans if the county municipality
and the national expert authorities have had no
objections to the draft plan of if it has been
altered because of the objections. I will now present the system of planning on the
different levels which are in force to day. National Planning In relation to local planning, the function of
the central authorities is largely advisory. But as
the local planning must be carried out within
national goals and guidelines, the central
authorities must set up the political platform of
the planning. The political platform is built up by political
decisions made by the National Assembly, especially
in dealing with parliamentary reports. The
government, and often the ministries, send out
directives on goals concerning planning. The Planning and Building Act has furthermore
provisions concerning national goals. The act
decrees that the King in council shall be able to
establish general guidelines for planning in
pursuance of the act and furthermore can impose a
ban on certain areas in order to take care of
national and regional interests. The county level At the County level, the County Council, the
County Governor and the national expert authorities
all have an important part in the planning
process. The County Municipality are responsible for
preparing the County Plan. This is a general plan
for the county, dealing with natural resources,
development and protective measure in the county.
It is intended that the county planning shall
coordinate the main feature of national activities
in the county. The County Council, which is a
publicly elected body, is responsible for ensuring
that this intention is carried out, and for the
organisation of the work involved. The Planning and Building Act describes the
County Plan as a comprehensive plan for the
coordination of national, county and municipal
planning in connection with the utilization of
natural resources in a county, and other questions
of common interests for the simulation of economic
growth and welfare in the county. The professional
content of the plan is summarised in the Act, and
is fairly extensive. Key words in this connection are; * Natural resources * Population and settlement * Labour market situation and general trends in
business and industry * Measures necessary to implement the plan * Economic consideration The county is responsible for insuring that a
county plan is prepared, and has sole political and
administrative responsibility for the planning. The
County Plan is considered a document of such
importance and approved by the Government. The
Ministry of Environment is responsible for
arranging for this approval. The County Plans affect both the municipalities
and the State. A County Plan is not legally binding. But the
plans are guidelines that the municipalities must
act within. The municipal level The municipalities are required to ensure that
comprehensive plans are continually prepared. Such
a comprehensive plan is called a Municipal Master
Plan. The Municipal Mater Plan shall coordinate the
physical, economic, social and cultural planning in
the municipality. This comprehensive planning is
the responsibility of the public elected Municipal
Council. The Master Plan shall consist of a long-term
part and a short-term part. The long-term part comprises: - goals for the development in the municipality,
guidelines for sector planning and a land-use plan
for the management of land and other natural
resources. The land-use plan is legally
binding. The short-term part comprises: - an integrated programme of action for sector
activity in the next few years. The Master Plan shall serve three main
purposes: - It shall provide a total overview of the goals
and guidelines for the development in the
municipality. - It shall provide information and frameworks
for national, county and private enterprises. - It shall stipulate guidelines for the
municipality's own planning in the different
sectors. At least once in the course of every election
period (every forth year) the Municipal Council
shall evaluate the Municipal Master Plan as a
whole, hereunder whether it is necessary to make
any alterations in the plan. The Ministry of Environment shall ensure that
the obligation to carry out continuous planning is
complied with. The county shall as far as possible give the
municipality professional planning assistance and
guidance. At an early stage in the preparations the
municipality shall seek cooperation with public
authorities, organizations etc. who are
particularly interested in the municipal planning
work. The main principle of the law is that each
municipality has the authority to adopt its own
Master Plan. But to make sure that the
municipalities carry out their physical planning
according to national an regional goals and
guidelines, the law has introduced a system of
so-called objections, that is that public
authorities on state and county level may object to
the draft of the land-use part of the Master Plan,
with the consequence that it must be approved by
the Ministry of Environment unless the draft is
altered. As the rest of the Municipal Master Plan is
concerned, there is to day no system of central
approval. The total Masterplan when adopted by the
Municipal Council, is however; to be sent to the
Ministry, the County Governor, the County
Municipality and the affected expert authorities
for information. Control of land use &endash; the land related
part of the Municipal Mater Plan Through the land-related part of the Municipal
Master Plan, it is possible to divide the
municipality into different areas in a legally
binding way. These areas are as following: 1. build- up areas 2. agricultural areas, nature areas and areas
for open-air recreation 3. area for extraction of raw materials 4. areaswhere the land is already reserved for a
specific purpose or is to be reserved for a
specific purpose pursuant to this or another Act,
and areas for defence purposes 5. use and protection of watercourses and sea
areas near the coast 6. important links in the system of
communications It is possible to supplement these areas with
supplementary provisions, which also are legally
binding. For example in the case of areas reserved for
extraction of raw materials, provisions may be
issued that development only can take place in
accordance with a detailed plan. The consequence of the land-use part of the
Master Plan being legally binding is that building
work, constructions and extraction of raw material
con not be executed in conflict with the land-use
plan with provisions, unless otherwise decided. The
same applies to other measures which may be of
major disadvantage for implementation of the plan.
After concrete evaluation, the Building Council may
grant dispensation in the individual case. Local Physical Development Plans The Building Council shall prepare Local Plans
for land use in accordance with the directives of
the Municipal Council. A Local Plan is a plan with associated rules,
regulating the use and protection of land,
watercourses, sea areas, buildings and the external
environment in specific areas of a municipality
within the framework defined in the Planning and
Building Act. To the extent necessary the land can be
earmarked for specific purposes in a local Plan,
also special areas &endash; areas for extraction of
raw material. To the extent necessary a Local Plan may include
regulations concerning the design and use of land
and buildings in the regulated area. An adopted Local Plan is immediately legally
binding. Furthermore, the Municipal Council can
decide to expropriate land in order to execute a
Local Plan. Therefore the Act gives the owners of
property without buildings a right to demand that
the expropriation is fulfilled at once. The planning process As early as possible after the start of the work
of a new plan or an alteration of a plan, the
Building Council is obliged to seek cooperation
with the public authorities, private organisations
etc. who are interested in the planning work so
that they can clarify the different interests
connected with the use of the area being
regulated. The landowners and tenants shall be notified by
letter when the planning is started, and when the
draft plan is available. When a proposed Local Plan is completed it shall
be made available for public inspection following
announcement in at least two local newspapers with
a wide circulation in the district. The
announcement shall clearly define the area to which
the proposal refers, and shall stipulate a
reasonable time for comment. If any comment is received, the Building Council
shall take the proposal up for renewed
consideration. When the Building Council has
completed its consideration of the proposal, the
proposal shall be submitted to the Municipal
Council via the Municipal Executive Board. The Municipal Council has the authority to
approve a Local Plan, within the frames of national
and regional goals and guidelines. That means that
the Municipal Council can approve the plan, if
there has come no objections, or if the proposal
has been altered in accordance with the objections.
If not, the plan has to be approved by the Ministry
of Environment. Building Development Plan A Building Development Plan is a plan adopted by
the Building Council , responsible for establishing
land-use and the design of buildings installations
and associated external areas within a special
limited area where the land use part of the
Municipal Mater Plan or the Local Plan requires
such a basis for development. A Building Development Plan has an equivalent
legal effect as the Local Plan. Briefly about the right to appeal Decisions on a Local Plan and a Building
development plan may be appealed by a party or
another person having a so-called legal interest in
appealing the case. According to the act the
Ministry is the institution of appeal, but this
function is delegated to the County Governors. In Norway we also have the institute of a
Parliamentary Commissioner for the public
administration. He will give his opinion on matters
after request from individuals, and the public
administration will follow his advise, although it
is not legally binding. The Ministry's interference in local planning
decisions If the Ministry finds that a land-use part of a
Municipal Master Plan or a Local Plan, that have
been finally decided on in the Municipality,
conflict with national interests, the County Plan,
or if it is the Local Plan &endash; conflict the
Master Plan, the Ministry can cancel the plan and
make such changes as found to be necessary. The
changes must, however, not lead to any change in
the main feature of the actual plan. III. THE FORMAL REGULATIONS ON BUILDING
ACTIVITIES AND OTHER USE OF LAND &endash; THE
PLANNING- AND BUILDING ACT SECTION 93 AND 84 I have given a survey of the planning
legislation in Norway in accordance with the
Planning- and Building Act. I will now proceed to
the formal provisions concerning building
permission (planning permission) and similar
systems. The Norwegian system implies that the use of
land and natural resources are controlled by
legally binding plans according to the Planning-
and Building Act and according to different sector
acts that implement systems of material
permissions. The Planning- and Building Act, however, do not
comprise systems of material permission. It only
comprises a system of formal permission, called
building permission, cf section 93 and a system of
notification, cf section 84 and 81. According to Section 93 &endash; Following work
require a building permission to day: - construction of a building - alteration and repair on a existing
building - reconstruction of the exterior of a
building - conversion of a building, when this conflicts
with a Local Development Plan or a Building
Development Plan - construction of a fence or wall toward a
road - demolition of a building, except when the
demolition takes place at the order of the Building
Council - change of the use of a building or part of a
building. A permission pursuant to section 93 is not
required for work carried out pursuant to section
81, 84, 85, 86a and 86b. Excavation, including super quarries, is to day
only to be notified pursuant to section 81. Section
84 deals with excavation and constructions that do
not require a building permission, only
notification. According to section 81 such a notification is
to be send to the Building Council. The
notification must comprise at statement that the
work will be carried out in accordance with the
provisions laid down in or pursuant to this
section. The notification shall be in writing and shall
contain information about the plans on which the
work will be based. It shall further be evident that neighbours have
been notifies about the work. The work may be
carried out three weeks after the notification has
been received by the Building Council. When special
reasons exist, the Building Council may postpone
the date for the start of work by further three
weeks. The purpose of these systems of formal
permissions and notification is that the Building
Council shall have a possibility to control that
the present provisions and legally binding plans
are followed. If that is the case, the permission
must be given, unless the Building Council wishes
to replan the area concerned. If that is the case,
the Council must lay a temporary ban on the area
pursuant to section 33. IV. BRIEFLY ABOUT PREPARATION ON AMENDMENTS
CONCERNING THE SECTIONS ON FORMAL PERMISSIONS The Ministry of Local Government and Labour is
preparing amendments in these sections, wishing to
drop the system of notification, proposing that
section 93 on building permission also shall
contain the different sorts of work listed in
section 84 today. The consequence of such an
amendment will be that excavations also will need a
formal permission in the future. Such an amendment will have as a result that
excavations cannot be undertaken before a Local
Development Plan is adopted, cf section 23 nr 1
last sentence about the obligation to prepare Local
Plans. V. BRIEFLY ABOUT THE SYSTEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS Our Planning- and Building Act has special
procedure provisions that are to be followed before
any decision is taken whether a larger project can
be carried out or not. The purpose of environmental impact assessment
is to assess the effect of proposed projects that
have significant impact on the environment, natural
resources and the community. Environmental impact
assessment is intended to ensure that such effects
are taken into account in the planning of projects
when a decision is taken as to whether and, in the
event, under what conditions a project may be
carried out. The developer shall send a notification of any
project falling within the scope of the regulations
issued pursuant to the Act. Such regulations are
adopted by the King in Council on the 27th of July
1990. The environmental assessment regulations
given by the King in Council comprise a list of
different projects that shall be notified. Cf
section 2. Excavation is included in section 2
litera in the regulations which has this text: "establishment or expansion of workings for ore,
minerals, rock, gravel, sand, clay or similar for
commercial purposes, industrial exploitation, and
so forth, if at least a total of 50 000 m2 is been
worked, or if the total workings comprise of more
than 500 000 cubic meter of substances mentioned
above." The developer shall send the notification to the
Ministry who has the administrative responsibility
of such projects, and to the municipality, the
county municipality and to the County Governor. The
Ministry shall make the notification accessible to
the public and distribute it for comment to the
authorities and to professional and industrial
bodies. If the notification does not contain the
necessary information, environmental impact
assessment shall be carried out, if it is believed
that a project will have significant impacts on the
environment, natural resources or the
community. The Ministry involved shall in collaboration
with the Ministry of environment decide, on the
basis of the notification and the comments
received, whether or not to require an
environmental impact assessment. If such an
assessment is required, the Ministry shall
determine the assessment programme on the basis of
the comments on the notification. On the basis of the stipulated assessment
programme, the environmental impact assessment
shall contain the necessary assessment of impact of
the project on the environment, natural resources
and the community. Practicable alternatives shall
be described, and measures can mitigate adverse
effects and inconveniences. Environmental impact assessment shall be sent to
the municipality, the county municipality and the
County Governor concerned. The assessments shall be
distributed for comments, and there is to be held
at public meeting to discuss it. The Ministry shall
decide whether the environmental impact assessment
satisfies the requirements. The developer has to
pay the cost of the assessment. An environmental
impact assessment shall be available at the same
time as the application for approval of the project
according to the Planning- and Building Act or any
other law. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS The Ministry is responsible for the provisions
in the Planning and Building Act regarding
environmental impact assessments. The purpose is to ensure that significant
effects on the environment, natural resources or
the community, are taken into account during the
planning of projects and when decision is
taken. The duty to carry out an EIA lies with the
developer. It is mandatory to carry out an EIA for projects
listed in regulations given by Royal Deere. Ministry of Environment, Norway National
data on planning systems Belgium? Norway? Lithuania? Czech
Republic? To add your own definitions or ideas just email Anne Beer. |
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