Material extraction- or processing plants – approval

Material extraction or processing plants are e.g. gravel pits, sand pits, quarries, but also plants for the extraction of humus, recycling plants etc. Approval for the construction, expansion and recultivation outside the local area is granted by the Bezirkshauptmannschaft or the magistrate by notice (Bescheid). The nature conservation requirements are checked by an expert.

None

Applications for approval must specify the type, location, scope and use of the project and include the documents required to assess the project, in particular plans, descriptions, sketches etc. in triplicate and a current extract from the land register. If the applicant is not the landowner, the consent of the owner must be substantiated, unless expropriation or the granting of compulsory rights is possible for the project applied for under other legal provisions. Furthermore, proof must be provided that the licence applied for does not contradict a legally effective supra-local or local spatial planning programme.

The expert shall then examine whether the project applied for lastingly impairs

• the landscape,
• the recreational value of the landscape or
• the ecological functionality in the affected habitat

and whether this impairment cannot be largely excluded by prescribing precautions.

Further information for this procedure is only available in German

Bezirksverwaltungsbehörde