Czech Republic: neighbouring property

Czech Republic

On April 7, 2005, the Constitutional Court ruled that anyone realistically affected by a construction project has the right to oppose it or express its opinion as part of the planning approval process.

In the case, a Roman Catholic church successfully challenged a decision by the City of Prague to exclude it from the planning process because it was not an adjoining property. In fact, it was situated across the street from the building plot.

In reaching its decision, the court followed an earlier judgment that it would not be in accordance with the constitutional protection of basic rights to limit the term 'neighbour' to the owners of properties sharing a common border. However, it stressed that each case had to be judged on its own merits when assessing how far away from a building plot a neighbour could be and whether or not they would actually be affected by the proposed development.