The Ministry for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for YES), in response to criticism from the Prague City Hall, states that the law will only repeal closures older than 15 years. According to the ministry, the closure should not be a permanent solution. The Association of Developers also agrees with Dostála’s opinion.

The new amendment to the building law was approved by deputies over a Senate veto this week on Tuesday. Two days later, the norm was signed by President Miloš Zeman. The law moves building authorities under the state and provides for the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority. Under it, the individual building authorities will be organized in a similar way, as is now the case with the financial administration. The wording of the law has a number of critics, including, for example, the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic.

The law will enter into force in mid-2023, some changes will take effect on January 1 next year. However, several sections of the law take effect the day after its publication in the Collection of Laws. These include provisions on building closures issued under older building legislation. These closures have been valid for more than 13 years. “Such a long restriction of ownership is unacceptable. Therefore, these old building closures expire on the date of entry into force of this provision, “states the explanatory memorandum to the draft law.

According to the Dostál Ministry, however, the new building law definitely does not cancel all building closures, only those older than 15 years. “Building closure should not be a permanent solution, that should be a zoning plan,” the ministry said on twitter on Friday. According to her, the Legislative Council of the Government also agreed with the amendment, because building closures mean a significant restriction of ownership.

Also, according to the Developers’ Association, the standard will only terminate unresolved building closures older than 15 years. “Which is fine – because the building closure is to be an exceptional and time-limited tool,” said Zdeněk Soudný, the association’s general secretary.

In the new Building Act, the government recommends that closures under the 1976 Act expire the day after the new Building Act is published in the collection. The above-mentioned Building Act of the 1970s ceased to apply at the end of 2006. Building closures announced under the current Act of 2006 will be inspected by the relevant spatial planning authority or the Supreme Building Authority, two years after the new law enters into force. If they do not do so, they will expire.

According to the Prague City Hall, the closure of the closure may endanger the future development of so-called brownfields or large transport structures. “Prague needs to open its brownfields, for example Drums have been blocked for decades, but this must happen by agreement, under social control. It shows how the state ignores the problems of cities. After years, we have finally reached an agreement on the territory with poor planning powers, and now such a notch will come before the finish, “said Hlaváček.

The building closure has been announced in the capital at about twenty locations, including Bubny-Zátory in Prague 7, the former Žižkov freight station, the airport in Ruzyně or on land in Letňany, where the government is pushing for a government district. The closures are also on the territory in the routes of important transport routes.

Owners will be able to cancel the deadline for a zoning decision. However, the key problem, according to Hlaváček, is that the city will lose influence on the development of the territory, because it will only be a party to the proceedings, when it does not have the legal force to enforce its requirements. In this way, all territorial studies that have been prepared by the city, for example in the territory of Buben-Zátory, may come to naught.

Building closures can be announced again by the city, but there must be a legal reason for this. In addition, their declaration may take one to two years in some cases.

The Ministry for Regional Development, which the new law ensures, for example, compliance with deadlines and strengthens the position of municipalities in territorial development. The law introduces a period of 30 days for the opinion of the authorities concerned, which can be extended by another 30 days in particularly complex cases or when ordering an on-site inspection.