The “strictest law” would protect the land but make it impossible to build on. Push for a softer option, the cities are asking

In the Chamber of Deputies, among other laws, a draft amendment to the legislation on higher protection of the highest quality agricultural land is going to the final reading. The general goal is to protect it from encroachment for construction, but from the beginning the amendment has also been under fire from cities and municipalities, according to which the proposed wording would not only protect the landscape, but in many cases fundamentally prevent economic development and construction in the regions. Deputies should therefore also vote for a softer version of the proposal.

According to the government amendment, large shopping and logistics centers with an area of ​​more than one hectare or standard photovoltaic power plants should not be built in the future on the highest quality agricultural land. The aim is to limit the taking of land classified in the first and second class of protection according to the so-called certified soil ecological unit. Devices for obtaining solar energy should only be built on agricultural land as agrovoltaic devices, i.e. those under which farming is normally done.

However, after the recent meeting of the parliamentary environment committee, it seems that the legislation will eventually pass in the less strict version proposed by a group of deputies led by Jan Bureš (ODS).

Exceptions would apply, for example, to plans listed in the Act on Accelerating the Construction of Strategically Important Infrastructure and projects directly connected to public transport infrastructure, such as fuel filling stations and transshipment points at railways. In addition, the list of development locations will probably change in the act on speeding up the construction of strategically important infrastructure.

Due to the scope of the protection of the highest quality agricultural land, the government’s amendment faced criticism in the lower house from some coalition MPs due to concerns about the further economic development of the Czech Republic. For example, the Union of Towns and Municipalities (SMO) was against it. “It is necessary to realize that this fundamentally affects the development and competitiveness of the Czech Republic, which is why we are in favor of some softening of the original ministerial proposal,” Pavel Drahovzal, vice-chairman of the union and mayor of Velké Osek, told the editors.

“From our point of view, it is also about the more consistent application of those processes that we already have in the legislation and have proven themselves,” he added, adding that it is, for example, compensation for occupations.

Apparently, Bureš’s option is also supported by his colleague Ivan Adamec, the pirate MP Klára Kocmanová, Miloš Nový from TOP 09 and the vice-chairman of the STAN movement Lukáš Vlček. “You can see that there is some broader agreement across the board, and that’s good. Let’s try to soften it,” assesses Drahovzal.

The coalition MPs’ amendment also extends from five to ten years the period during which it would still be possible to build large centers on the best agricultural land, if the spatial plan envisages them. Other transitional periods also change.

In the past, its critics have dubbed the legislation “the strictest law in the world” because, according to them, it has no support anywhere abroad. Earlier, the SMO also sent a letter to the Ministry of the Environment under the leadership of Petr Hladík asking for a reconsideration. “We would like to ask you to take the above-mentioned arguments into account and support the amendment when deciding on the final form of the Proposal. (…) It can be expected that our competitiveness will decrease and the interest of investors will also decrease. Building permits take up to 10 years in the Czech Republic today due to complex legislation and bureaucracy. The proposed amendment will prolong and complicate this process,” the letter, which is available to Echo24, reads, among other things. The union president František Lukl and Pavel Drahovzal have signed it.

The minister resisted

The Ministry of the Environment, headed by Minister Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL), disagreed with the amendment, according to which it already weakens the current standard of protection of the best land. It warned that the newly proposed protection regime would be applied to almost no projects.

Similarly, the ministry evaluated Adamc’s other amendment proposal, which the economic committee also recommended for adoption. According to the amendment, the ban would not even apply to strips half a kilometer wide along highways, first-class roads and railways of national or regional importance, on both sides.

Exceptions to the ban on the sale of agricultural land to owners from so-called third countries should be the states of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and third countries with which the Czech Republic has concluded a relevant international agreement. The agricultural and ecological committee will probably push for the exemption of all registered ecologically significant landscape features from property tax. Newly, they would include, for example, rock gardens and terraces.

Without the opinion of the environment committee, the deputies will vote on the introduction of the right of pre-emption of farmers on the land on which they farm on the basis of, for example, a lease or tenancy agreement. The right of pre-emption on agricultural land should also be second in line to the state, according to the amendment proposed by the deputies of the opposition movements ANO and SPD, led by Josef Kott (ANO). The committee’s position means that the right of first refusal is unlikely to make it into the amendment.