The most comprehensive reform of construction planning law for many years is taking shape. In mid-March, the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building presented the draft bill for the „Act on the Modernisation of Urban Development and Spatial Planning Law“. The draft implements the decisions of the Coalition Committee of 28 November 2025 and the regulatory mandates of the Federal Modernisation Agenda of 4 December 2025 and takes up the pact concluded by the federal and state governments in November 2023 to accelerate planning, approval and implementation for construction planning law.

It responds to a large number of challenges that have burdened the current building planning law for years. The requirements for the legally compliant implementation of planning procedures have steadily increased - not least due to the growing complexity of environmental and climate protection issues. The amendment is therefore broadly based: In addition to simplifying the environmental assessment, streamlining and fully digitalising the urban land-use planning procedure, introducing substantive preclusion, strengthening pre-emption rights (including against share deals) and upgrading the land-use plan, the Spatial Planning Act is also being modernised, the Land Use Ordinance amended and new instruments such as the restoration statute for urban ecosystem areas in accordance with the EU Restoration Regulation introduced.

Two aspects in particular are likely to be of special relevance for the practice of environmental and planning law: the changes to the supplementary principles of urban land-use planning (Section 1a BauGB) and the upgrading of the land-use plan with a new privilege effect for projects in outdoor areas (Section 5, Section 35 (1a) BauGB).

Relevant points for practice

The amendments to Section 1a BauGB essentially concern the following areas: the impact regulation in accordance with Section 1a (3) BauGB and climate adaptation. In future, monetary compensation is to be paid if compensation is not possible under building planning law. The new provision § 135d BauGB will be introduced for this purpose. This is a supplementary compensation option at planning level that is intended to close a long-standing regulatory gap. The explanatory memorandum to the draft refers to a recommendation of the Building Land Commission and emphasises that the compensation money has an independent scope of application - it is in addition to the intervention regulation at project level in accordance with Section 15 (7) BNatSchG, without replacing it.

The previous joint climate protection and climate adaptation clause is split into two separate principles. The new paragraph (Section 1a (4)) exclusively regulates climate protection: „The requirements of climate protection shall be taken into account through measures that counteract climate change; climate protection concepts shall be taken into account.“ The explanatory memorandum clarifies that climate protection concepts must be taken into account, but that this does not establish an obligation to draw up such concepts; however, existing concepts concretise the requirements of climate protection.

A new independent principle (Section 1a (5) new) enshrines climate adaptation and explicitly refers to climate adaptation concepts, heavy rainfall prevention concepts, flood hazard maps and heat stress maps. Particularly noteworthy is the anchoring of „water-sensitive urban development“, which is defined as an approximation to a near-natural water balance through infiltration-capable areas and low surface runoff.

The amendments to Section 1a BauGB are ultimately less critical than one might assume at first glance. The material requirements of the impact regulation and environmental protection remain essentially untouched. Nevertheless, two aspects should be kept in mind: In the case of compensation money, there is a practical risk that real compensation will be prematurely categorised as „not possible“ and the supposedly simpler route of monetary payment will be chosen. Case law will have to specify how the impossibility of real compensation must be demonstrated in order to prevent abuse.  

Upgrading the land use plan

The new Section 5 (5) BauGB allows municipalities to determine that certain representations of the type and extent of building use in the land use plan have the effects of Section 35 (1a) BauGB. Corresponding to this, the likewise new Section 35 (1a) BauGB stipulates that a project is permitted in an outdoor area if it does not conflict with public interests, adequate development is ensured and it corresponds to the representations of the land use plan in accordance with Section 5 (5) BauGB. According to the explanatory memorandum to the law, the new paragraph 5 is intended to upgrade the land use plan for the outdoor area to a single-stage plan that has a direct impact on the permissibility of the project.

This means that the two planning stages that previously applied - the land use plan for the main features of planning and the development plan as a binding basis for authorisation - are now combined at the land use plan stage. Municipalities can designate areas for outdoor areas in a single planning act, on which corresponding projects can then be authorised without the previously required additional preparation of a development plan. According to the explanatory memorandum to the draft, this regulation should apply in particular to projects that serve the decentralised and centralised generation, storage or distribution of electricity, heating or cooling. A functioning charging station network is mentioned as a further application. However, the expansion of the settlement area by residential and commercial buildings is expressly excluded.

The upgrading of the land use plan deserves critical appraisal. The scope of the environmental assessment in the land use plan procedure is significantly smaller than in the case of development planning. The explanatory memorandum to the draft recognises this itself: The land use plan creates „initially an outdoor area privilege“, while plant-specific concerns would only be fully examined at the authorisation level. It remains to be seen whether this trust in the depth of examination at the authorisation level is justified - especially in the case of more complex projects with significant environmental impacts. For third parties and investors, legal protection is shifted entirely to the project authorisation level. According to the draft explanatory memorandum, a judicial review of the land use plan itself is „generally“ ruled out, as neighbouring concerns are to be fully taken into account at the approval level. The legal protection options for affected neighbours are thus significantly shifted and also mean uncertainty for the developer. The new Section 35 (1a) BauGB also creates a privilege level of its own. The project is permitted if public interests „do not conflict“ - a formulation that corresponds to the previous privilege under Section 35 para. 1 BauGB and is therefore significantly stronger than the standard for other projects under Section 35 para. 2 BauGB, where interests may not be „impaired“. This creates an intermediate category in the already complex authorisation system for outdoor areas.

Conclusion:

The new regulation of Sections 5 (5) and 35 (1a) BauGB is probably the most far-reaching system intervention in the current building planning law. The land use plan will become the sole and sufficient control instrument for a large number of energy transition projects - with the exception of wind turbines, which are already privileged elsewhere. This speeds up procedures considerably and strengthens local authority planning sovereignty. At the same time, it should not be overlooked that the reduced depth of examination, the shift in legal protection to the detriment of third parties and the new level of complexity in the law on outdoor areas raise follow-up questions that will have to be clarified in the further legislative process - and foreseeably in case law. It is therefore advisable to follow the further development of the legislative process closely. In particular, the practical effects of the upgrading of the land use plan and the interaction with the continuing special wind energy regime will have a lasting impact on planning practice.