From Land Use Plan to Regional Plan South Hessen / Regional Land Use Plan
The land use plan (LUP) regulates the basic parameters covering the types of use to which land in an entire municipal area will be put. The higher-ranking planning levels have to be taken into account when drawing up the LUP.
With the foundation of Umlandverband Frankfurt (UVF) back in 1974, responsibility for preparing the now joint land use plan was transferred from the City of Frankfurt to UVF. The UVF Land Use Plan covered 43 member municipalities and came into force in 1987. Within the metropolitan area it replaced the City of Frankfurt land use plan that had been in force since the 1950s.
In the year 2000, the Hessen State Parliament resolved the Act on Conurbations and as a result the UVF, which was renamed Planungsverband, was expanded to include 75 members. Together with the Darmstadt Regional Council, the Planungsverband then prepared the South Hessen Regional Plan/Regional Land Use Plan 2010 (RPS/RegFNP 2010), which went into force on Oct. 17, 2011. In 2011, Planungsverband was renamed Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain, the FrankfurtRhineMain Regional Authority. The voluntary accession of five municipalities from the Wetterau District means that since 2021 a total of 80 cities and municipalities are members of the Regionalverband.
For the City of Frankfurt/Main, the levels of South Hessen Regional Plan and joint land use plan coincide, coming under RPS/RegFNP 2010. This plan includes not only the stipulations for regional planning but also the outlines as per the German Construction Code (BauGB) of relevance to land use planning.
The regional land use plan manages the FrankfurtRhineMain Regional Authority. Together with the South Hessen Regional Assembly, it is responsible for drawing up and amending the RPS/RegFNP for the authority’s entire area, covering all 80 member municipalities. plan for the entire area in its authority. The legal basis for this is provided by the Hessen “Act on the Frankfurt/RhineMain Metropolitan Region (Metropolitan Act)” of Nov. 8, 2011, last amended on Aug. 24, 2018. A member municipality must apply to the FrankfurtRhineMain Regional Authority for any and all changes required to the land use plan. To date, there have been ten cases of procedures initiated and/or implemented on behalf of the City of Frankfurt to change the RegFNP. If the changed required deviate from the land use objectives an application also has to be made to the Darmstadt Regional Council for adjudication on a deviation from the objectives. The South Hessen Regional Assembly will then decide whether to approve or reject the application.
In 2016, the South Hessen Regional Assembly resolved a New edition of the RPS/RegFNP. Preparatory work is undertaken in close consultation with the Darmstadt Regional Council and the FrankfurtRhineMain Regional Authority on the basis of the Hessen Act on Land Planning (HLPG) and the German Construction Code. The RPS/RegFNP includes, among other things, statements on spatial and settlement structures, retailing, transportation, energy supplies, agricultural and forestry, the climate, and securing the provision of open spaces. The objectives stated, the principles, and the outlines of the RPS/RegFNP form key elements for the spatial development of the City of Frankfurt/Main and the region. The outlines as per the German Construction Code (BauGB) of relevance to land use planning will in future be compiled on a scale of 1:25,000.
In the course of the revised version of the RPS/RegFNP, initial public consultation is scheduled for 2024, and the new plan is not likely to come into force until 2026.
The FrankfurtRhineMain Regional Authority together with the Darmstadt Regional Council compiles the substantive Renewable Energy Sub-Plan. This supplements the Regional Land Use Plan to include the provision of renewable energy supplies and primarily defines spaces where wind power is prioritized.
The Chamber of the Regional Authority approved this plan on Dec. 12, 2018. The plan identifies 21 priority locations for wind-power generating facilities or about 0.6 percent of the authority’s total territory. No such power plants may be erected on the remaining 99.4 percent. The plan still needs to be approved by the South Hessen Regional Assembly, came into force when approval of it was gazette by the State of Hessen on March 30, 2020, and has been approved by the State of Hessen.
At the City of Frankfurt, the City of Frankfurt Planning Dept.’s Urban Development section is responsible for all questions relating to the regional land use plan and the interests of the city. The section also fields statements and applications for approval of procedures for deviations from regional land use planning objectives to the Darmstadt Regional Council and changes to the outlines in the RegFNP to the Regional Authority and administrative procedures involving other municipal offices.
Information on the RegFNP can exclusively be obtained from Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain, Poststrasse 16, 60329 Frankfurt/Main, Germany; tel.: 069 / 2577-0, www.region-frankfurt.de.. The RegFNP can likewise be viewed online.
For general information on the RegFNP please contact the City of Frankfurt Planning Dept., Kurt Schumacher Strasse 10, 60311 Frankfurt/Main, Germany.