Belarus


I. GENERAL INFORMATION

II. PLANNING CONTENT AND PROCESS ACCORDING TO THE VALID ACT

III. CURRENT SITUATION AND MAIN PROBLEMS IN PLANNING

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    Raions division, cities of oblast submission

    Spatial arrangement of Belarus

    Land-use plan of Minsk with developments reglamments



I. GENERAL INFORMATION

    1. Statistical data

Area north-south distance east-west distance forests and nature protected areas arable land
207 600 km2 560 km 650 km 36 % 50%

Population density urban population rural
10 037 000 48 people/km2 70% 30%

    2. Administrative organisation

General role-division between state/county/local levels

The territory of Belarus is divided into the territory of the capital of the republic (the City of Minsk) and the territory of oblasts (6)
The territories of oblasts are divided into the territory of raions (118) and cities of oblast subordination (23).
The territory of a raion is divided into the territory of rural councils (1456), urban settlements and cities of raion subordination.

Role division in planning administration

State

The Ministry responsible for planning is the Ministry of Architecture and Construction.
Other planning-related authorities on the national level are the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Nature Resources and Environment Protection and the State Committee for Land Resources.

Region (oblast)

Oblast is a regional self-government.
The regional body responsible for planning is Oblast Committee for Territorial Development, Urban Planning and Architecture.

Region (the City of Minsk)

The body responsible for planning is Minsk Committee of Territorial Development, Urban Planning, Architecture and Land Management.

Local (raion, cities of oblast subordination, rural councils)

According to the Act of the President of Belarus, the merging process of management bodies began in 1997, resulting in subordination of the local level only to raion.

    3. Brief overview of planning legislation

Up to 1991 Belarus used the legislative and normative basis of the USSR. In 1991 the process of creation of the national legislative and normative basis began. Creation of the latter was the basic change compared to the former system. Following the earlier normative approach, spatial and urban planning regulation is one of the parts of the Building Regulation System.

However, also today the normative documents of the former Soviet Union are used in urban planning and building. Proceeding from the Agreement on the Commonwealth of Belarus and Russia, the process of unification of the legislative and normative basis began which does not occur for the benefit of Belarus as often the Russian version is used as basis for the document.

In 1994 the Parliament of the Republic passed the law "On Architectural and Town Planning Activity in the Republic of Belarus ". The Law has a general character and does not regulate the procedural approaches in spatial and urban planning. In the Law the definitions of sustainable environment of life ability, spatial and urban planning activity in the context of architectural creativity and the list of basic planning documents are given. The Law also prescribes the basic components of spatial and urban planning activity:

* Regional and urban cadastre as an information basis for planning;

* National research programs in the field of spatial planning and architecture;

* Financial fund of spatial development, the financing source for national planning and research, work on creation of the national legislative and normative basis, etc.

Spatial planning activity is carried out on the basis of Building Normative Acts, approved by the Ministry of Architecture and Construction, and also on the basis of Decision Acts of the Council of Ministers of Belarus.

The development procedure of planning projects and their content is adjusted by the Building Normative Act "The Order of Development, Co-ordination and Contents of Spatial and Urban Planning Documentation".

The order of approval and state expertise of planning projects is established by the Decision Act of the Council of Ministers "Order of State Expert Supervision and Approval of Spatial Planning Projects".

The procedure of building in cities is adjusted by the "Building Rules in Urban and Suburban areas". It is authorised by Oblast Executive Committees.

Structure of the Planning and Building Act "On Architectural and Town Planning Activity in the Republic of Belarus ":

  • Section 1. General
  • Section 2. Environment of Habitat
  • Section 3. Planning of Architectural and Planning Activity
  • Section 4. Realisation of Architectural and Planning Activity
  • Section 5. Regulation of Architectural and Planning Activity
  • Section 6. Protection of the Rights of Actors in Architectural and Planning Activity.
  • Responsibility for Offences
  • Section 7. International co-operation

Structure of Building Normative Acts "Order of Development, Co-ordination and Contents of Spatial and Urban Planning Documents":

  • Area of application
  • Definitions
  • General provisions
  • Procedure of development and concordance of plans
  • National plan
  • Regional plan
  • Master plan
  • Detailed plan
  • Appendices

Structure of the Decision Act of the Council of Ministers "Order of State Expert Supervision and Approval of Spatial Planning Projects":

  • General provisions
  • State expert supervision of the projects
  • Approval of spatial planning projects

Structure of the "Building Rules in Urban and Suburban Areas":

  • General provisions
  • Bodies of architectural, urban planning and land arrangement management on city territory and suburban area
  • Planning of territorial development of cities
  • Rules for design production and land engineering works
  • Rules for allocation and withdrawal of land for construction
  • Rules for construction and use of buildings
  • Procedure of individual (family) housing construction
  • Rules for allocation and use of temporary buildings
  • Design of urban environment, order of allocation of advertising and information
  • Building procedure in suburban areas of cities
  • Duties of actors in architectural, urban planning and land arrangement activity in building
  • Protection of rights, responsibility for infringement of building rules
  • Appendices

 

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