AREA PROTECTION OF ZPF IN THE CONTEXT OF MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT
Abstract: According to Act No. 334/1992 Coll., on the protection of the agricultural land fund, agricultural land represents the basic natural wealth of our country, it is an irreplaceable means of production enabling agricultural production and at the same time, it is one of the main components of the environment, while for non-agricultural use of agricultural land it is necessary to demonstrate compliance with the principles of area protection. In the territory of the Czech Republic, the development of municipalities is usually linked to the non-agricultural use of agricultural land, which is, of course, regulated by the aforementioned law. As a result of legal regulation, when planning the development of a municipality, there are repeated clashes between the agricultural land fund protection authorities and the acquirer of the spatial planning documentation or the applicant for the withdrawal of agricultural land, because in both cases it is necessary to individually assess whether the interest in the implementation of the project (in the sense of the development of the municipality) prevails in the given case. or whether the interest in preserving agricultural land prevails. Furthermore, there is a fundamental question of assessing another public interest, which significantly outweighs the public interest in soil protection, and which needs to be demonstrated by the applicant in the case of the proposed non-agricultural use of the highest quality land classified in I. or II. protection class. Continuity between the opinions of the concerned authority is also relevant in the given issue, as there have been several cases in which the authority for the protection of agricultural land has refused to take agricultural land, even though it was a project that was located on an area designated for that purpose by a valid spatial planning documentation.
