Partial revision of the spatial planning act: priority of agriculture and management of immissions in rural areas

The current partial revision of the Spatial Planning Act introduces significant changes for construction and housing in rural areas. At the heart of the reform is the explicit strengthening of agriculture: in the relevant zone, agricultural needs will in future be given an even clearer priority over other uses. This has direct implications for how immissions such as odours or noise are addressed. The new provisions affect both residential projects within the agricultural zone and construction projects in adjacent building zones. For landowners, farmers and planners, this results in a changed framework for assessing land-use conflicts and planning new developments. The following overview outlines the key aspects of this legislative realignment.

1. Subject matter of the partial revision with regard to immissions and the agricultural zone

At the statutory level, the partial revision expressly enshrines the principle that, in agricultural zones, agriculture and its needs take precedence over non-agricultural uses. In addition, the Federal Council is granted an explicit competence to determine, outside building zones, in which cases relaxations of the provisions of environmental protection law may be permitted for odour and noise immissions originating from agriculture, in order to safeguard this priority of agriculture. The concrete scope of this competence will therefore depend decisively on the implementing provisions that still need to be enacted at ordinance level.

2. Effects on non-agricultural residential uses in the agricultural zone

Non-agricultural residential uses in the agricultural zone are subject to the principle of priority of agricultural management. This applies both to new projects and to changes of use and issues relating to existing buildings, insofar as they may in practice impair agricultural activities. Even under current law, the granting of permits for non-agricultural residential uses in agricultural residential buildings is expressly subject to the condition that the agricultural management of the surrounding land is not jeopardised. In this way, conflicts with typical agricultural immissions are emphasised as a planning-law-relevant aspect of the permitting process.

From the perspective of environmental protection law, it remains decisive (subject to any possible relaxations) that livestock facilities must, as a precautionary measure, comply with the minimum distances from inhabited zones required under recognised rules, with such minimum distances being calculated in particular on the basis of the relevant technical recommendations. It is important to note that, according to current practice, agricultural zones are not considered “inhabited zones”. At the same time, with regard to odour immissions from livestock facilities, it must be taken into account that no fixed limit values exist and that the harmfulness or nuisance must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

3. Effects on the building zone

For the building zone, the general planning principle remains in force that residential areas should, as far as possible, be protected from harmful or nuisance-causing influences such as air pollution, noise and vibrations. According to the wording of the provision, the envisaged competence to grant relaxations is limited to cases outside building zones.

In practice, however, the partial revision is relevant for the building zone particularly at the interface with the agricultural zone. According to the prevailing approach, a project located at or near the zoning boundary may be considered to have cross-boundary effects; in such cases, zoning conformity must also be assessed with regard to the neighbouring zone. For residential buildings, this means that they must be set back sufficiently from the boundary with the agricultural zone so that their construction no longer has any significant effects on that zone. The newly and expressly codified priority of agriculture in the agricultural zone provides an additional statutory guideline in favour of conflict-avoiding planning and the determination of appropriate distances.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact us at +41818510910 or via e-mail at info@nist-law.ch. We will be happy to assist you.