Another success at the Provincial Administrative Court in Poznań – ‘Old local development plans and environmental decisions’

Acting on behalf of the investor – a company carrying out a project involving a transport and storage facility, including a waste treatment site – we secured a favourable judgment from the Provincial Administrative Court in Poznań dated 22 April 2026 (case no. III SA/Po 285/26).

The court overturned both the decision of the Local Government Appeals Board and the preceding decision of the Commune Head refusing to issue a decision on environmental conditions.

The crux of the dispute concerned the interpretation of the Provincial Spatial Development Plan (PMZP), which referred to a regulation from 1998 – no longer in force – concerning investments particularly harmful to the environment and human health. The administrative authorities held that the current equivalent of such investments are projects “which may always have a significant impact on the environment” within the meaning of current legislation.

The Provincial Administrative Court did not share this view.

In its judgment, the Court noted, among other things, that:

• a reference contained in a local plan is currently of a “blank reference” nature,

• there is no legal basis for automatically replacing repealed regulations with new provisions,

• the consequences of the long-standing failure to update the local plan cannot be passed on to the investor.

The judgment has significant practical implications for environmental and investment proceedings conducted in areas covered by older local spatial development plans containing references to legal acts that are no longer in force.

The case was handled Attorney-at-law by Agata Wencel-Socha, and Attorney-at-law Kacper Łagodziński.