On 21 May, the Cabinet of Ministers approved amendments to the Spatial Development Planning Law put forward by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. In future, a person wishing to contest a municipal spatial plan or local plan will have to submit their appeal to the ministry responsible for spatial development planning within one month after the entry into force of the binding regulations by which the spatial plan or local plan was approved. The draft law will still be reviewed by the Saeima.
By shortening the previously set two-month deadline, the administrative burden in the field of real estate development will be reduced, as will the overall decision-making process in municipalities. This will make it possible to avoid the deliberate prolongation of the process of approving planning documents. The changes will create the legal conditions for development projects to advance more quickly and for construction plans to be implemented, thereby having a positive effect on the development of the national economy and creating a more attractive environment for attracting investment.
The proposal on the need to review the contestation deadline was initiated by representatives of the Foreign Investors' Council in Latvia, the Real Estate Developers' Alliance and the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The proposal has been supported in principle by the State Chancellery working group on reducing the administrative burden, established by a resolution of the Prime Minister, and by the working group on improving the spatial development planning system set up by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, which brings together representatives of planning regions, municipalities, developers of spatial development planning documents and non-governmental organisations.