POLICIES, PROJECTS AND BEST PRACTICES: DENMARK
By Marco Mazouzi, Marian Cihon, Pawel Warszyck
Guldborgsund Municipal Plan 2017 – 2029 (Kommuneplan 2017-29)
The Municipal Plan 2017-29 outlines the overall planning guidelines for the municipality’s physical development. It is the first digital municipal plan in Guldborgsund Municipality. This policy was approved by the Guldborgsund City Council in 2017 and is valid until 2029. However, every fourth year a new plan is produced; always covering a time horizon of 12 years. It is addressed to citizens, businesses and other public institutions and authorities in the Guldborgsund Municipality.
The objective of the plan is to make Guldborgsund Municipality a better place to live and visit, to increase the number of municipal citizens, increase job creation and increase the number of young people that obtain a qualifying education. The document includes political decisions on overall frameworks for:
1. Towns and living areas,
2. Business and labour market,
3. Nature and landscape,
4. Leisure management and tourism,
5. Environment protection and
6. Infrastructure, energy and traffic
It is stated that all new initiatives and decisions, e.g. for new buildings and roads, should be in line with the Municipal Plan, where the geographic locations for town development and living areas, locations for business development and the (international) transport corridors, as well as areas for nature protection are outlined.
A specific public transport component does not exist in the policy. The 6th overall objective is, however, related to traffic and the aims to achieve sufficient transport services and traffic safety are mentioned.
The section on road management defines the framework conditions for e.g. maintenance, protection and the upgrade with new traffic information technology. Road transport infrastructure consists of transport corridors E47 and E55, local municipal roads and small private roads. The state roads are maintained and paid by Danish national government. Municipal roads are maintained by the municipal and private roads are maintained by their private owners (see Figure 1).
Strategy of the Infrastructure and Environment Committee
Beyond the municipal plan there is the Infrastructure and Environment Committee of the Guldborgsund Municipality City Council with a four-year strategy for their time in office. Regarding transport, this strategy states the following focus topics and objectives:
- To provide a good framework for secure roads (particularly to schools), bicycle lanes, and need-based bus routes
- Focus on connecting infrastructure that supports the citizens’ and business company’s mobility.
- Coordination and optimisation of different transport means and routes