Polska wersja

Building permit for the expressroad through pristine Rospuda Valley cancelled by the court

Warsaw, 15 December 2008 - The Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw has cancelled the building permit for the bypass of Augustow town planned through „Augustow Primeval Forest” Natura 2000 site with its famous Rospuda river Valley wetlands (protected under the European Birds and Habitats Directives). This is the fourth judgment of the Polish courts within the last year and a half which confirms that this road project is illegal under national law.

In February 2007 – paradoxically during the celebrations of World Wetland Day in Warsaw which were dedicated to the unique mires in Rospuda Valley - the previous Minister of Environment Jan Szyszko signed a “death sentence” for the Valley by accepting the environmental conditions proposed for road construction. One week later the building permit – the last administrative decision required – was granted by the authorities of Podlasie region. While the engineers were starting the land measurements for road construction, the camp of people demanding protection of the Valley was rapidly growing in the frozen and snowy Augustow Forest. For a few weeks, this camp was a place of hot discussion between proponents and opponents of the road through the protected site, meetings with residents of Augustow and its vicinity interested in the environmental and legal arguments for changing the route, and visits of people expressing their support for the ecological NGOs fighting for protection of Rospuda Valley.

In April 2007 the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw first agreed with the arguments of Polish ecological NGOs and cancelled the first administrative decision for the bypass (the opinion of the Ministry of Environment on the environmental conditions proposed for the road construction). This confirmation by the Polish court that decision-makers had breached nature conservation law was a turning point and started a domino-effect on the further administrative decisions for the illegal road.

As the Polish Road Agency announced it would start road construction works within the protected Natura 2000 site as soon as the protection period for breeding birds ended at the end of July 2007, the European Commission referred the case to the European Court of Justice. At the same time the Polish court forbid any construction works in the Natura 2000 site until the final decision of the ECJ. But in the meantime construction continued on a section of the road outside the protected area.

At the beginning of 2008 NGOs together with the Road Agency, local authorities of Augustow and representatives of the Environment and Infrastructure Ministries met at the “roundtable” initiated by the new Minister of Environment prof. Maciej Nowicki and new Minister of Infrastructure Cezary Grabarczyk. The goal of the roundtable meetings was to develop an acceptable solution for Augustow Bypass and it was agreed there that consideration of alternative routes for the bypass was necessary in light of the requirements of the EU Habitats Directive. The results of a brand new Environmental Impact Assessment analysing alternative routes carried out as a result of the roundtable meetings have just been provided to the Road Agency.

In mid September 2008 the Highest Administrative Court in Warsaw rejected the appeal of the Road Agency and finally cancelled the environmental consent for the road through the mires and forests. Following this decision - today the last administrative decision for Augustow Bypass through Rospuda Valley – the building permit - was cancelled.

We expect the Road Agency to take the needs of residents of Augustow and drivers travelling along the crowded transit road through this city seriously and to use the results of the new analysis of alternative routes for the bypass to act quickly and obtain new permits for construction of the road on another route where it will be legal. – says Małgorzata Górska, Coordinator of the “Via Baltica” Campaign of the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds. – Today’s court judgment again confirmed that insistence on the road route through the protected area while a viable alternative route exists means further threats to residents of Augustow town as well as delays and waste of funds.

NGOs have for years been highlighting that the expressroad route through the protected mires in Rospuda Valley and Augustow Forest is in conflict with the requirements of both Polish and European nature conservation law. The alternative route will enable quick construction of the bypass outside the protected area and use of EU funds and the correct decision-making process should ensure that the new road is completed and open within the next few years.

News