Review article

Realisation of the right to local self-government in spatial planning

Zoran Radman ; research associate, Split

Abstract

Spatial planning is a very important governance tool in local communities, because many local public affairs have their spatial component. The paper focuses on the realisation of the right to local self-government in Croatia in the field of spatial planning policy. In this manner, the paper follows current debates about the development of the Croatian local self-government, decentralisation process, local autonomy, and limitations to local governance. The Croatian Constitution accepts subsidiarity principle from the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Provisions of the Law on Local and Regional Self-Government and regulation of the sectoral Law on Spatial Planning and Construction do not fully ensure the implementation of the constitutional right to local self-government:
subsidiarity principle and the principle of control of constitutionality
and legality are particularly endangered. The main issues tackle imprecise regulation of local affairs, unclear delimitation of local and regional competences with regard to spatial planning, the possibility of intervening into local powers by the means of secondary legislation and spatial plans of the counties, the power of central bodies to misuse their control competences, legally imposed obligation
of local units to ask for opinions, comments, and consents of separate and higher bodies, bad practice of regional and central bodies during the preparation of local spatial plans, etc. The position of local councils, which are competent only to adopt the spatial plan as a whole document, without having a possibility to amend its draft version, is quite remarkable in the negative sense of the word.
Such a situation puts elected local councillors in an absurd situation.

Keywords

local self-government; subsidiarity; self-government scope; spatial planning; spatial planning documents

Hrčak ID:

129747

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/129747

Publication date:

4.3.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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