Little BIG glossary of urban planning
/ guide
The 4 phases of preparation of the plan
Phase 1: Decision on the preparation of the plan
In general, there are three reasons to start a preparation of a plan:
- valid strategic or regulation plan covering a specific territory is a legal obligation,
- plans of wider range („of higher order“) prescribe more detailed plans as a prerequisite for issuing the conditions for construction,
- there is private or public need to prepare a new plan.
In the majority of cases, the plans are prepared when it is necessary to replace the old plans with new ones, when there is interest to build something in a specific area, to manage or solve a problem, and the plans of wider range prescribe defining and rethinking these issues by preparing a detailed plan.
Preparation of every plan begins with the submission of the Initiative for preparation of the plan.
In a written form, such initiative can be submitted by anyone – including an authority, institution, natural or legal persons, investors, citizens…
In practice, the initiative for preparation of the plan is most often submitted by the public and private sector – institutions and administration bodies or investors, which determines the financing of the whole process.
Whoever is submitting the initiative or financing the plan, the entire procedure of preparation of the plan is identical – the authority and responsibilities are in the hands of the institutions and administration bodies.
The submitted Initiative enters the procedure implemented by the administration bodies. Information on the procedure is not accessible to the public until the Decision on the preparation of the plan is formally adopted.
In response to this initiative, in collaboration with the appointed institutions from the public sector, the institution responsible for preparation of the plans – in charge of spatial and urban planning (in Belgrade it is the Secretariat of Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade), comes up with the Elements for a decision on the preparation of a plan.
Opinion of the institution responsible for environmental protection (whether a strategic assessment of the environmental impact of the plan is required) is mandatory.
The Elements for the decision on preparation of the plan already contain the basic information on the plan and the procedures of its preparation: the boundaries of the area covered by the plan; conditions and guidelines from the planning documentation; aims of the preparation of the plan; whether strategic assessment of the environmental impact is required; information on the investor, institution responsible for the preparation of the plan, deadlines for the estimated completion, venue and method of public inspection etc.
The procedure is the same in case of amendments to a valid plan.
The contents of the Elements for the decision on preparation of the plan are assessed by the administration body responsible for expert control of the planning documents – the Planning Commission (Belgrade City Assembly). The Commission may require corrections to this submission or, if it accepts it, make the Proposal of the decision on preparation of the plan and address it for adoption.
Issuing the Decision on preparation of urban plans is a responsibility of the parliaments. Depending on the area covered by the plan, that includes the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Assembly of the Autonomous Province, Belgrade City Assembly or assemblies of the units of local government. Decisions on the majority of spatial plans are under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Republic of Serbia (see chapter Spatial Plans).
When the parliament adopts the Decision on the preparation (or change) of the plan, it is published in the designated official gazette and only then becomes accessible to the public.
