Spatial Planning Key Decision Room for the River

To maintain the level of flood protection of the mostly densely populated areas in the Netherlands, the Rhine delta river branches have to accommodate ever-higher extreme discharges, due to anticipated climatic changes. Until recently, it was standard policy to raise the crest levels of the dikes. This centuries old policy was abandoned in 2000 in favour of Room for the River. In the new policy, river cross sections will be widened by situating the dikes further away from the river, or by lowering the river forelands. This will result in lower flood levels. The Dutch cabinet ordered the preparation of a Spatial Planning Key Decision, in which the spatial planning for the entire area related to the Dutch part of the Rhine delta is laid out. The document presents an integrated development plan with the main objectives of flood protection, master landscaping and the improvement of overall environmental conditions. This plan has now been finalized. Completion of the construction of the planned projects is foreseen by 2015, with a budget of €2.2 billion. The plan also offers suggestions for the long-term accommodation of extreme river discharges. A package of measures has been composed to realise the short-term objectives within the budgetary constraints. For the longer term, various options are available, offering additional opportunities for regional development along the rivers, such as waterfront housing, and recreational and nature developments. Most of such options were not selected for the basic package due to higher costs and longer legal procedures involved. Public-public or public-private partnerships and co-financing will be required for their implementation. Therefore the Spatial Planning Key Decision will be based on a programmatic approach, with a flexible framework for integrated regional development, rather than a rigid set of projects to achieve an objective within a set period of time and with a fixed budget. A Spatial Planning Key Decision has to be approved by the Dutch parliament and has a status similar to a Bill. The implementation of the various projects will be greatly facilitated by supra-regional in stead of local legal procedures. The success of such a complicated process fully depends on carefully construed publicpublic and public-private partnerships. The Spatial Planning Key Decision has to inspire confidence that it will be rewarding for the participating public and private parties to show initiative. ment, rather than a rigid set of projects to achieve an objective within a set period of time and with a fixed budget. A Spatial Planning Key Decision has to be approved by the Dutch parliament and has a status similar to a Bill. What is a Spatial Planning Key Decision? Town and country planning in the Netherlands Three administrative layers exist in the Netherlands: municipality, province and state. Lands can be utilized or builtup only in accordance with a zoning plan decided upon by the town council. Once the plan is accepted by all parties, any construction plan that is contrary to the zoning plan will be denied a building permit by the local authorities. A zoning plan, however, is not valid until it has been approved by the provincial administration. If the approval is withheld, the interested party or parties can appeal to a court of law. The province itself draws up a regional zoning plan against which to test the local plans. This means that town and country planning is first and foremost determined by local authorities, and then tested against overall schemes. Environmental planning is furthermore executed on a national scale; the result is referred to as Spatial Planning Key Decisions (Planologische Kernbeslissing). These are drawn up at ministerial level and have to be approved by parliament. A SPKD describes a general or specific spatial planning policy. A general one may deal with the key functions of town and country planning in the Netherlands, or with agricultural and nature areas, or transportation, or the providing of electricity. But a SPKD can also focus on a specific project at a specific location, such as the building of a rail road for the high speed train, or the construction of a harbour facility. Prior to publication of a SPKD, its effects on nature and the environment have to be studied on a strategic level. The Spatial Planning Key Decision called Room for the River will be submitted to Parliament in 2006. In this plan, the measures for flood control of the major rivers are outlined; they include the creation of additional space for the rivers, instead of merely reinforcing the dikes. For each location, the type of plan is described: e.g. the construction of secondary channels in the river foreland or the displacement of a dike further inland. This paper presents the main considerations of the Netherlands national and regional governments for their long-term view on flood protection within the Rhine delta. It sets out the programmatic approach which has to be adopted to achieve the set objectives. In addition, the legal instruments available for the implementation of the physical works within the Dutch judiciary context are highlighted. 2 THE DUTCH RHINE DELTA Figure 1 shows where the River Rhine enters the Netherlands from Germany. This point is also the apex of its delta. The water flows via various routes to the North Sea. One such route is via the river IJssel, the IJssel Lake and the sluices in the Afsluitdijk. The rivers Lower-Rhine and Lek form the second route. This water passes through the city and the harbour area of Rotterdam and finally the Maeslant main storm surge barrier, before reaching the sea. The third and main waterway is the river Waal, whichflows through the estuaries in the southern part of the delta and reaches the North Sea through the sluices of the storm surge barriers of the Delta Works. For the last stretch, the Waal is joined by the river Meuse, which enters the Netherlands south of Maastricht. Figure 1. The Netherlands Rhine and Meuse delta. The river Waal is of crucial economic importance as it constitutes the main access to the world’s oceans for the major German industrialized areas. The delta has a population of about four million people, which is almost a quarter of the total population of the Netherlands. The major industries of the country are also located in this delta. The Dutch government has to guarantee a smooth operation of the water transport, with sufficient water depths for the container barges even at low river discharges. On the other hand it has to guarantee the safety of the inhabitants and commercial enterprises within the delta against flooding. In 1993 and 1995 extreme discharges occurred in both the rivers Rhine and Meuse. People and livestock had to be evacuated, as their safety could not be guaranteed. These events have directed the focus of the politicians and the general public on the hazardous circumstances along the rivers. The unpredictability, both in occurrence and in magnitude, of extreme river floods proved a fact which tends to be forgotten in normal times, but was proven a reality once again. The safeguarding from flooding in the Netherlands has been legally established. A river discharges with a recurrence interval from 1/1250 (once every 1250 years) for the upper reaches of the delta to 1/4000 for the regions also at risk from storm surges from the sea. The coastal area itself is protected from storm surges from the sea with a recurrence interval of 1/10,000. Under present conditions, this means a capacity is needed to accommodate river discharges up to 16,000 m/sec for the Rhine, and 3,800 m/sec for the Meuse. Due to expected climatic changes, even higher river discharges are foreseen for the future. By the turn of this century flood defence plans are expected to calculate with discharges of 18,000 m/sec for the Rhine and 4,600 m/s for the Meuse. The anticipated relative rise of the sea level by that time is estimated at 60 cm. 3 A FRESH VIEW ON FLOOD DEFENCE The Netherlands have a long history with respect to its protection against the dangers of river floods and storm surges from the sea. The country built a formidable reputation, worldwide, by its struggle against water and the solutions it has developed over the centuries. In the middle ages, flood protection was organised by the predecessors of the present waterboards. The most efficient flood measure remained the building and strengthening of dikes. In anticipation of rising water levels this practice is thought to have reached its limit, from a technicalenvironmental viewpoint as well as a socio-political viewpoint. The government has indicated that new ways must be found, with the focus on lowering the water levels. This can be achieved by giving the river more space. For the Netherlands this means a major change in a centuries old approach. The current view is that the normative river discharges should be transported to sea without undue extra fortification of the current dike system along the main waterways. The space required for additional safety measures can be created by widening the flood plains, using areas on the land side of the dikes. Care should be taken not to affect valuable features of landscape, nature and cultural history. More space can also be found by enlarging the river channel within the dikes. In the process of choosing measures, one should aim at a balance between present and foreseeable future spatial requirements, while keeping an open eye for every opportunity to enhance safety. Some examples of types of measures are shown in Figure 2. These options have been incorporated in the project dubbed Room for the River. Most of the planned measures have been situated in the river forelands. Some in the polders adjacent to the rivers, where entire dike alignments will be shifted or bypasses constructed. These are areas where people have built farms and houses and economic activities takes place. The new approach