Which zoning plan or environment plan applies to my plot?
Since 1 January 2024 the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) applies and every municipality has one environment plan (omgevingsplan): the municipality’s rules for the physical living environment. That plan came about through transitional law and is therefore called the environment plan by operation of law (omgevingsplan van rechtswege). The old zoning plans (bestemmingsplannen) became part of it, in the 'temporary part'. Municipalities have until the end of 2031 to turn that into one environment plan for the whole municipality. On many plots the old zoning plan therefore still applies: the zoning, the building area and the maximum eaves and building height.
What the environment plan governs
With the environment plan the municipality allocates functions to locations: where you may live, work or build, and under which conditions. It uses the plan to carry out the policy it set out in its environment vision (omgevingsvisie). The environment plan is therefore the successor of the zoning plan, but broader: it can also contain rules on felling trees, heritage, odour or the discharge of rainwater and groundwater.
What the environment plan consists of now
The environment plan by operation of law has two parts. Under article 22.1 of the Environment and Planning Act, the temporary part contains three kinds of rules:
- The decisions from before 2024: zoning plans, amendment and elaboration plans, management ordinances, integration plans, development plans, preparatory decisions and some ordinances, such as the odour ordinance and the ordinance on the discharge of rainwater and groundwater.
- The maps and decisions of the Soil Supplementary Act (Aanvullingswet bodem): the soil quality map, the soil function class map and decisions on applying soil or dredged material.
- The rules that central government automatically added to every municipality’s environment plan: the 'dowry' (bruidsschat). They apply as long as the municipality has not replaced them with rules of its own.
The new part is empty until the municipality adds rules itself. During the transition the municipality also includes the rules from other ordinances, such as the tree felling ordinance, the heritage ordinance and the general local by-law (APV), in so far as they concern the physical living environment.
What a zoning plan contains
- The zoning (designated use): residential, mixed, business, green space and so on.
- The building area (bouwvlak): where the main building may stand.
- The dimensions: the maximum eaves height, building height and sometimes the site coverage percentage.
- Designations and rules for things like outbuildings, renting out rooms or splitting a home.
What happens after 2031
The conversion must be finished by the end of 2031. Rules in the temporary part do not lapse automatically, not even after that date; the rules from the old ordinances do lapse by operation of law on the end date. A municipality that has merged has the same deadline.
Where to find it yourself
The environment plan is in Regels op de kaart, part of the Omgevingsloket (the government’s planning portal). The old zoning plans are there too, as separate documents. If you are unsure what a rule means for your plans, ask the municipality: it decides on a permit.
What the Perceelscan does with it
The report lists every zoning plan that applies to your plot, with the zoning, the building area, the maximum heights, the links to the rules and the plans in preparation, and calculates how many m² and m³ you may build according to the plan’s map. It also lists every regulation under the Environment and Planning Act that applies to your plot (the environment plan, the regulations of the province and the water authority), with how many rules affect your plot, the areas with their own rules and the drafts that are open for comment.
Does my old zoning plan still apply?
Usually it does. Since 2024 it has been part of the temporary part of the environment plan, until the municipality replaces it. The municipality has until the end of 2031 to do so.
What is the 'bruidsschat'?
The rules that central government automatically added to every municipality’s environment plan when the Environment and Planning Act took effect. They apply as long as the municipality does not replace them with rules of its own.
Sources
- Informatiepunt Leefomgeving (IPLO): the environment plan
- IPLO: the environment plan by operation of law
- IPLO: the transition until the end of 2031
- Omgevingsloket
Updated on