published. It is expected that the Bill and the amendments will be debated in the Second
Chamber in 2005 and become effective in 2007.
5.3 Changing role of the province
In the Netherlands, two levels of regional spatial policy can be distinguished. In general, the
province takes up supralocal spatial planning. In addition, in seven city-regions cooperative
regional relationships have been established. In the National Spatial Strategy (Tweede Kamer,
2004), the recent national spatial planning key decision, the role of the province in spatial
planning is stressed. In future, spatial considerations at this level will increase in importance,
not only with respect to the coordination of planning, but also in the coupling to spatial
investments. The idea is that the province (and sometimes the region) will fulfil a
coordinating and sometimes even a development role in projects at the supralocal scale level.
On the basis of the actual Spatial Planning Act, the provincial competences are as follows.
The province does not have at its disposal the competence to determine land use regulations
on its own. The province can, however, formulate a strategic plan: the regional plan.
Furthermore the provincial approval of local land-use plans forms an important instrument. In
practice these two competences are often applied in combination. The planning approval takes
place in accordance with the strategic spatial policy as set out in the regional plan. In this
manner the province can exert considerable influence on local spatial policy through
verification; undesirable land use changes can be opposed, provided such a step is well
supported by the planning policy. The province has fewer opportunities to enforce certain
changes in land use. To be sure, there is an opportunity to give a local authority notice of a
change in the local land-use plan, but the use of this competence is procedurally time-
consuming.
In the proposed changes of the Spatial Planning Act, the provincial role will change.
Henceforth a province will also be able to make binding land-use regulations itself, using a
provincial land-use plan or the independent project procedure at the provincial level. This
competence is, however, restricted to projects of provincial importance. Another change is
that the provincial competence to approve local land-use plans lapses. In the assessment of a
plan, the role of the province is limited to the opportunity to make use of the objection phase
to signal its objection to a particular proposed spatial regulation. Another new competence
acquired by the province is to establish generally applicable land use regulations which local
authorities must translate into local land-use plans. The exclusion of certain land uses is more
likely to follow (for example, building in areas of outstanding ecological value) than the
stimulation of a certain sort of land-use. Certain preconditions n land-use can indeed be set
(for example, a minimal amount of water storage capacity to be provided in an area to be
developed). In the proposed planning system central government will be able to have the same
influence on provincial plans as before. Central government will still be able to object to a
provincial land-use plan and, in addition, it will receive the competence to decide on a
national land-use plan if this concerns an issue of national importance.
One of the objectives of the revision of the spatial planning system was to strengthen the
provincial role. This objective has been met to some extent in the proposed Spatial Planning
Bill. But this strengthening also takes place through separate legislation concerning, for
example, land policy (Land Development Act: Grondexploitatiewet). Since many changes are
still at a preparatory stage, there is no planning practice yet. The experts are not in complete
agreement as to whether the changes signify a strengthening of the provincial role on all
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