It is only seven years after the Landscape Law came into effect that draft landscape audits are ready. In Greater Poland, the document has been put out for public review, and local government officials are encouraging feedback. Will the audits help save the Polish landscape from total degradation?
There have been no such documents yet. The introduction of landscape audits is a much less noticed change introduced in 2015 by the so-called Landscape Law ("Law on Amendments to Certain Laws in Connection with Strengthening of Landscape Protection Tools"). This is because the changes in legislation from seven years ago are primarily associated with the so-called landscape resolutions - tools for organizing the space of individual cities and municipalities, in particular - advertising issues.
On the other hand, there was much less talk about landscape audits performed for entire provinces: documents whose preparation - unlike voluntary landscape resolutions - is mandatory. The audits should have been ready long ago - three years after the 2015 law went into effect. So much so, that as many as four years, until 2019, the rulers made us wait for the preparation of a regulation that specifies how the audit should be prepared.
Protecting against pressure
What are audits anyway? Done at least once every 20 years, they are supposed to protect landscapes from chaotic development and investor pressure. They classify landscapes, assess their value, designate sites for cultural and landscape parks, and distinguish "priority landscapes," i.e. landscapes that are particularly valuable to society because of their natural, cultural, historical, architectural, urban, rural or aesthetic/visual values.
What should be the translation of audits into planning and construction decisions? The website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage provides content :
indications as to the formation and protection of (...) landscapes will be taken into account in planning documents at the municipal level. As a result of the development of the audit, the following may also be captured: non-historic objects with important aesthetic, emotional values or unique objects valuable for the quality of urban space; threats to landscapes in the form of visual chaos, including advertising in public spaces and road lanes.
In addition, the audit may formulate indications for the findings of the landscape resolution. The ministry admits that due to slippage with the regulation, the audits should be ready this year or next year. The audit for the Greater Poland province is already in the final straight; it was put out for public review more than a week ago.
Activities related to the audit are being branded by Wojciech Jankowiak, deputy marshal of the Wielkopolska voivodeship , in accessible sponsored texts posted in local media. The encouragement to consult is highly illustrative:
Space is a unique value for which we are all responsible, we have borrowed it from future generations and should give it back in the best possible condition so that our children and grandchildren can live in an aesthetically pleasing and harmonious environment.
Landscape audit of the Wielkopolska voivodeship
source: wbpppoznan.pl/AudytKrajobrazowy/SIP
flat and historic
Jankowiak also summarizes the general characteristics of Wielkopolska - including its lowland, agricultural character and the importance of the valleys of the Warta and Noteć rivers, the high density of the settlement network, degraded mining areas in the Konin area, but also - expressed through historical buildings - an important cultural aspect associated with, among other things, the beginnings of Polish statehood.
Somewhat worse is the communication and access to the documents posted on the website of the Wielkopolska Marshal's Office. To get acquainted with the draft audit one has to download a heavy packet of files (2.5 GB). The separately attached user manual - also imperfect - can only partially help in grasping the situation. On the other hand, the document for submitting proposals is an ordinary Word file with a table to fill in. Electronic form - none.
Landscape audit of the Wielkopolska voivodeship
source: wbpppoznan.pl/AudytKrajobrazowy/SIP
The interactive map of the voivodeship, on which the elements covered by the audit are marked as layers, is quite interesting. Thus, it is possible to check, at the scale of the whole voivodeship, such aspects as landscape dominants and accents, viewpoints, boundaries of individual landscapes and others. The authors also included the locations of proposed landscape parks, protected landscapes and natural-landscape complexes.
How much time do the province's residents have to express their opinions (specialists took part in consultations during the development of the audit)? For such a vast subject matter - not much. Officials are waiting until December 7 to submit comments. They plan to have the audit ready early next year.
