Hans-Joachim Schemel, Beate Jessel

• The "Weighting Process" in Land Use Planning - Discussion of the Present Practice of "Weighting Out". Owing to the revision of the Building Code from January 1998 the impact regulation in land use planning is now established in the Building Law. This means the local governments have decision-making powers how to precisely implement the impact regulation. This, however, does not mean - as had been said in practice - that the concerns of nature and landscape can be "weighted out". On the contrary, the decision-making process has to include a detailed differentiation depending on the case, according to a verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court from 1997. The concerns of nature and landscape cannot be moved back as "not of furhter relevance". Only precisely described and insurmontable constraints allow cutbacks. Since compensation measures now can be carried out on the ground of adjacent local communities, a lack of sites available cannot be accepted as a reason. The paper makes clear why also in urban land use planning interferenceThe "Weighting Process" in Land Use Planning - Discussion of the Present Practice of "Weighting Out". Owing to the revision of the Building Code from January 1998 the impact regulation in land use planning is now established in the Building Law. This means the local governments have decision-making powers how to precisely implement the impact regulation. This, however, does not mean - as had been said in practice - that the concerns of nature and landscape can be "weighted out". On the contrary, the decision-making process has to include a detailed differentiation depending on the case, according to a verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court from 1997. The concerns of nature and landscape cannot be moved back as "not of furhter relevance". Only precisely described and insurmontable constraints allow cutbacks. Since compensation measures now can be carried out on the ground of adjacent local communities, a lack of sites available cannot be accepted as a reason. The paper makes clear why also in urban land use planning interference into nature has to be fully compensated for.…