Image caption:

(c) Verein LandLuft

Forward-looking urban planning, citizen participation, consistent land policy: Weyarn/D, a municipality south of Munich/D, checks with every major building project whether it is in line with the vision of remaining a rural area that was developed together with the population. For example, a petrol station near the motorway slip road was prevented from being turned into a car yard with truck parking. The municipality relies on the German “Erbbau” (heritable building rights) law to promote affordable home ownership for the local population. The right is valid for 99 years and can be extended for another 50 years; the annual leasehold payment for the land on which it is built is about two euros per square metre. This right is applied within the framework of the so-called "indigenous model". By drawing up allocation guidelines, the municipality has adapted its local residents' model to the EU legal requirements so as to continue to give priority to local young families and tradespeople. This benefits people who have been living in Weyarn/D for several years, do not yet own a plot of land suitable for building and whose family income does not exceed a certain amount. The municipality also only converts land owned by the municipality into building land and offers it on a leasehold basis so that businesses can settle or affordable housing can be created.

More information: ortschafftort.landluft.at/die-gemeinden.html (de), www.weyarn.de (de), www.stmb.bayern.de/buw/staedtebau/einheimischenmodell/index.php (de), www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/DE/forschung/programme/refo/raumordnung/2011/BaukulturLaendlicheRaeume/Weyarn_Text.html (de), gemeinde-weyarn.de/aktive-buerger/ (de)