Formal public participation in urban land-use planning procedures must be announced at least one day before the start of the publication period. This was decided by the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg (Ref.: 14 S 376/24 of 17.01.2025). It clarified that with the amendment of the building law provisions on public participation (Section 3 (2) sentence 4 BauGB) and the abolition of the one-week period, the announcement and the start of publication (previously: display) may not fall on the same day. It should be noted that, according to current legal opinion, an exclusive announcement on the Internet is not sufficient and an analogue announcement must still be made.

„Local authorities should therefore ensure that the announcement in the official gazette, for example, does not coincide with the publication deadline on the internet,“ explains Rechtsanwalt Michael Liesegang. „Local authorities must also continue to ensure analogue publication. This also applies if the main statutes no longer provide for this.“