Immission control authorities must approve applications for wind energy installations if the application deadlines have expired and the authorisation requirements have been met. The Münster Higher Administrative Court made this clear in an oral hearing on 25 March 2025. It is therefore not possible to delay the decision until the project location is de-privileged due to the entry into force of a new regional plan and the establishment of the area targets. Further information

In this specific case, the district of Lippe wrongly refused to authorise seven wind turbines around four weeks ago. At the hearing, which was arranged at short notice, the OVG Münster has now signalled that the refusal was unlawful and that the turbines must be approved at this point in time. The new East Westphalia-Lippe regional plan will soon come into force. The turbines are not located in its wind energy areas and would therefore no longer be privileged in future. Consequently, the applications would then have to be rejected. The OVG Münster has now rejected any further postponement of the procedure until this de-privileging: The application is eligible for a decision and must therefore be authorised now - regardless of the future de-privileging.  

In the meantime, the district of Lippe has granted the licence. „Anything to the contrary could have meant official liability claims in the tens of millions for the district of Lippe. The OVG Münster has signalled that an „escape into the regional plan“ is not possible. Attempts to delay notifiable applications until the site is deprivileged by the new regional plans should therefore be a thing of the past,“ explains Rechtsanwalt Michael Liesegang.