The municipalities want to have more influence on local construction planning. The German Association of Cities is calling for a right of first refusal for all properties in the city area. Municipalities also want more freedom of choice when it comes to 30 km/h zones.
The German Association of Cities has called on the federal and state governments to give municipalities more influence in construction and traffic planning. “The cities basically need a right of first refusal for all properties in the city area,” said managing director Helmut Dedy to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Also simplify the building regulations
“We need space for housing construction, but also for transformation projects such as transport transition, heat transition and climate adaptation. We cannot afford for properties to lie fallow for years.” If it is not possible to develop building land with the cooperation of cities, property owners and project sponsors, “the cities must be able to act,” demanded Dedy. To this end, the building requirement in the building code must also be “consistently simplified”.
Cities should be able to use this instrument – which allows them to force property owners to build – “much more easily”. Until now, a building requirement has to be justified for each individual case. “It would be a great step forward if cities could set building requirements for a specific area,” said Dedy.
More freedom Traffic planning
In addition, the city council is calling for “more legroom” in transport policy. The municipalities should be able to decide for themselves where the speed limit should be 30. Dedy called this a contribution to traffic safety and climate protection that can be implemented quickly on site.
The Federal Council rejected a corresponding reform of the Road Traffic Act in November. Dedy demanded that the federal government and the Bundestag should call the mediation committee as quickly as possible.