In 2021, 10.3 hectares of previously free land were converted into building land for residential, commercial and transport routes in Bavaria every day.
The surface consumption is one of the most urgent environmental problems in Bavaria. Now the latest statistics show that the state government was not able to contain it in 2021 either – despite the promise to the contrary made by the CSU and Free Voters in their 2018 coalition agreement. In 2021, an average of 10.3 hectares of formerly open countryside are in building land for residential and commercial use every day and traffic routes have been converted. That is only slightly less than the 11.6 hectares of land used per day in 2020. The State Office for Statistics emphasizes that only about half of the building land disappears under concrete. The other half will be green space next to roads or in roundabouts, gardens or parks. Nevertheless, they are lost for agriculture and forestry. In addition, the surface consumption is considered a main reason for the galloping loss of species.
Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (FW) also means all of this when he comments on the new statistics in a comparatively self-critical manner. “We want to use space sparingly, but at the same time we have to take action against the housing shortage, provide commercial land for our companies, advance the energy transition and optimize transport routes,” he says. “We have to deal openly with this conflict of goals.” The slight drop in new consumption shows that there is an awareness of the efficient use of space as a resource. At the same time, the black-yellow coalition is still a long way from its goal in the coalition agreement. There she had agreed that the municipalities should reduce land use to five hectares a day by 2030 – albeit on a voluntary basis, not through specifications.
The Greens in the Landtag see themselves confirmed once again in their demand for a binding maximum value for land consumption of five hectares per day. “We need the binding limit value,” says parliamentary group leader Ludwig Hartmann. “Political laissez-faire by the Söder government does not protect our meadows, fields and forests.” It is the Free State’s duty, especially towards the farmers, to “finally curb the flood of concrete”. Bavaria loses the agricultural land of an average farm every three days. Hartmann had started a referendum against the surface consumption almost five years ago. However, the Administrative Court stopped the extremely successful initiative because it was not legally compliant.