Land oversupply. How rigid land-use planning and legal certainty hinder new policy for Flanders

ABSTRACT

Land-use planning can be seen as a way of controlling future development. As strategic planning defines new ambitions and rapidly changing circumstances call for implementation, more adaptable land-use planning is needed. In this paper different dimensions and characteristics of adaptable versus rigid planning are presented in a theoretical model. In this model, two dimensions of legal certainty are added to the state-of-the-art literature. Adaptability is not only defined by the material and procedural dimensions of land-use plans, also the legal and time dimensions are highly determinant. In a case study, the rigid planning system of the Flemish region is investigated by its determining characteristics. Based on empirical evidence from historical research, our paper shows how successive political decisions increased legal certainty for landowners leaving a small margin for policy change. Different dimensions and characteristics that could unlock the paralyzed system are assessed. In particular, the paramount importance of the time dimension in binding land-use plans and compensation schemes is highlighted. This case study demonstrates the need of embedding systematic review procedures and expiry dates in the planning system. Our findings are especially relevant for all planning systems that tend towards high legal certainty and protection of property rights.

KEYWORDS:

• Land-use plans
• legal certainty
• land oversupply
• rigid planning
• time dimension

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to prof. em. Georges Allaert, Herman Baeyens, prof. em. Marc Boes, prof. Pascal De Decker, Arnold Desmet, Evert Lagrou, Roger Liekens, Alfons Pauwels, prof. em. Pieter Saey, Geert Sanders, prof. em. Jef Van den Broeck, Leo Van der Vliet, Philippe Van Wesenbeeck, prof. em. Norbert Vanhove, Dirk Verté and Wilfried Wouters for their willingness to be interviewed and to open their private archives for our research. We thank Kadoc KULeuven, the University Library of UGent, the Flemish Architecture Institute VAI, KennisWest, and Intercommunale WVI for opening their archives, and the Department Omgeving for providing data and historical plans. Furthermore, we would like to thank Lotte Baelen for designing the schemes and prof. Jean-Marie Halleux, dr. Sina Shahab and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).