We Do Not Consider the Response to the Comments on the Metropolitan Plan Adequate

The final version of Prague’s new spatial plan also includes responses to comments and objections submitted by the public and civic associations. AutoMat submitted several dozen comments during last year’s repeated consultation, many of them for the second time. The City Hall rejected most of them without sufficient justification, just as it did those submitted by other associations.

“Rejected. … The request cannot be taken into consideration, as the matter raised by the submitter was not subject to repeated consultation in the draft MPP. … The planning authority takes note.” These are the kinds of statements the City of Prague used in responding to hundreds of comments and objections submitted to the Metropolitan Plan by citizens and civic associations. Nothing more.

For a document that will shape Prague for decades to come, we would expect a transparent, fact-based response to comments, not merely formal rejection without more detailed reasoning.

Moreover, thanks in part to AutoMat’s objections, the position of public transport and cycling improved significantly in previous versions of Prague’s new spatial plan. Conversely, the continued prioritisation of cars and gaps in the protection of green spaces and existing buildings prompted AutoMat to resubmit a number of objections originally filed in 2022.

We wrote more about last year’s repeated consultation in this article. Once again, there is very little time to study the entire document.

Following discussion by the Committee for Spatial Development, which is meeting at CAMP on Tuesday, 26 May, the Metropolitan Plan is scheduled to be approved by the Prague City Assembly this Thursday, 28 May. Members of the public can attend both meetings, and can also address councillors on the issue through formal questions during the Assembly meeting.

If the Metropolitan Plan is approved now, it is expected to come into effect this September, according to the information currently available. At the same time, an update to the plan is expected to be prepared in the coming years. We will be following that process as well.

Opening photo: Big See, Benedikt Markel

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