Riga, Jan 22 (LETA) - The National Alliance is demanding an explanation from Smart Administration and Regional Development Minister Raimonds Cudars (New Unity) regarding the suspension of territorial plans for Bauska and Preili municipalities, the party informed LETA.

The request is on the agenda for Thursday's Saeima session.

According to the National Alliance, the minister believes that local governments have too strictly limited the construction of wind power plants and solar parks in the municipalities. The National Alliance, on the other hand, pointed out that the minister's orders "blatantly contradict the fundamental principles of democracy and the right of citizens, enshrined in the Constitution, to decide on issues that directly affect their living environment".

The clear will of the local population, expressed in public consultations and other formats, has not been taken into account in the suspension of spatial planning documents legally adopted by local authorities, the party said.

"Citizens have the right to decide about their living space, and it is the task of state institutions to respect the opinion of the local community. If this principle is not respected, trust in both local authorities and the state as a whole is undermined," says Vitenbergs.

The National Alliance stresses that local governments are democratically elected institutions which have the duty to represent the interests of their citizens. Spatial planning is the exclusive competence of local authorities, and interference in this process by state authorities, ignoring the local community, undermines the autonomy of local authorities and significantly diminishes the trust of citizens in public administration, the political force stresses.

According to the National Alliance, the decisions to suspend spatial plans were taken without proper dialogue with local authorities. The party pointed out that state institutions must not take a stand against municipalities and their residents, while at the same time actually lobbying for narrow economic interests, especially on such a sensitive issue as the construction of wind farms.

In its request, the National Alliance asks the minister to clearly answer whether the interests of the population have been taken into account in his decisions, how important the minister considers the opinion of local communities to be, how legitimate and justified these decisions are, and how the right of local authorities to decide independently on the development of their territory, including the construction of wind farms, will be ensured in the future.

A similar request has also been submitted by the opposition party Latvia First. The party asks whether Cudars acknowledges the accusation that the ministry's own long-standing failure to develop guidelines and criteria for a common approach to integrating wind farms into spatial plans under development is one of the main reasons why these plans have been suspended.

Latvia First also asks why Cudars is "imposing the development of wind farms on municipalities, knowing that the population is opposed to their construction in the immediate vicinity of their homes".

As reported, Smart Administration and Regional Development Minister Raimonds Cudars (New Unity) has partially suspended the spatial plans of Bauska and Preili municipalities due to what he considers illegal restrictions on the production of renewable energy resources.

The minister has identified significant legal and substantive shortcomings, and has therefore issued orders to suspend the implementation of the Bauska municipality spatial plan and the binding regulations of the Preili municipality spatial plan in parts that, without sufficient data, research, and legal justification, set disproportionate restrictions on the development of renewable energy resources (RES), commercial activities, and the exercise of private rights.

"Spatial plans must be data-driven, proportionate, and legally justified. Local authorities have wide discretion in spatial planning, but should not impose vague, unjustified, or excessive restrictions that significantly limit the property rights of individuals and hinder the achievement of the overall national objectives," says Cudars.

The ministry's assessment of the spatial plans of the two municipalities concluded that the restrictions they impose are incompatible with the RES-oriented economic specialization of the municipalities' sustainable development strategies.

In view of the national policy to promote the development of RES production, the plans contain solutions that, in general, significantly limit the development of RES, contradicting the national objectives of strengthening energy independence and the transition to renewable resources.

In a number of cases, the rules are formulated in a legally vague manner, with subjective criteria to be interpreted, which makes it difficult for individuals to foresee the legal consequences and hampers the implementation of development plans.

EWE Neue Energien 2 has submitted to the State Environmental Service (VVD) a plan for the construction of 17 wind power plants (WPP) in the territories of Bauska and Jelgava municipalities, and the VVD has started the environmental impact assessment procedure.

The municipality provided an official response in October last year, stating that most of the planned wind park area is located on agricultural land of national importance, where such construction is not allowed. The municipality believes that the project does not comply with the existing spatial plan and that the zoning should not be changed.

The Latvian subsidiaries of the Danish wind energy group Eurowind Energy plan to build two wind farms in Dienvidkurzeme region, as well as in the Bauska and Jelgava municipalities, according to information on the website of the already dissolved Energy and Environment Agency (EVA).

In the Preili municipality, Latvenergo is planning to build a wind farm in Riebini.