General plans of Chernihiv cities are unavailable

Of the 16 cities of regional and district significance of Chernihiv region, none of them have general plans available to the public. This opinion was reached by representatives of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Mayu Pravo Non-Governmental Organization, having completed monitoring the official websites of cities of regional and district significance of Chernihiv region. The general plan is the most important document that reflects the process of development, planning, construction and other use of the territory of a settlement.

This document describes both the current state of development of the city and the plan for the coming years.

According to the Law of Ukraine “On Regulation of Urban Planning Activities”, the general accessibility of the materials of the master plan of a settlement is ensured by posting it on the website of the local government body and in local periodical printed media, as well as in a publicly accessible place in the premises of such a body, except for the part that constitutes a state secret and belongs to information with limited access in accordance with the legislation. However, according to public experts, today, even in cities of regional significance – Chernihiv, Nizhyn and Pryluky, the requirements for the publication of the materials of the master plan have not been met and they cannot be called accessible.

Due to the fact that the local governments of Chernihiv cities have ignored the legislative requirement to provide access to master plans or their drafts, the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Mayu Pravo Non-Governmental Organization for each settlement have prepared an appeal to the prosecutor’s office with a demand to oblige local officials to post master plans on the official web resources of city councils.

Monitoring the state of openness of master plans in Chernihiv region is carried out within the framework of the all-Ukrainian project “Through access to master plans – to urban development without corruption: a network of civil action”. The monitoring covers all 459 Ukrainian cities of 24 regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and aims to focus attention on the importance of practical implementation of the provisions of Ukrainian legislation on ensuring unhindered access of citizens to master plans of cities.