Who makes the rules? The Environment and Planning Act in brief

Four authorities, one act

The Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) has applied since 1 January 2024. It brings together the rules for the physical environment, such as building, water, soil, nature, heritage and pollution. Among others, it replaced the Spatial Planning Act (Wro) and the General Provisions of Environmental Law Act (Wabo). Four kinds of public authority make rules and decisions under it: the national government (Rijk), the provinces, the water authorities (waterschappen) and the municipalities.

The act works with six core instruments: the environmental vision, the programme, local and regional rules, general national rules, the environmental permit and the project decision. If you are looking at a parcel, the rules and the environmental permit matter most. The diagram shows who adopts which document.

IPLO — Maak kennis met de Omgevingswet · wetten.overheid.nl — Omgevingswet

Vision, ordinance and environmental plan

An environmental vision (omgevingsvisie) sets out in broad terms how an authority wants the living environment to develop in the long term. The national government, every province and every municipality has one. It binds only the authority that adopts it. It contains no rules for residents or businesses.

Rules are in other documents. The provincial council adopts one environmental ordinance per province. It contains rules that can apply directly to residents and businesses, and instruction rules that municipalities and water authorities must implement. The general board of the water authority adopts one water authority ordinance, which replaced among others the former keur.

The municipal council adopts one environmental plan for the whole municipality. It replaces the old zoning plans (bestemmingsplannen) and contains the local rules for the physical environment. For a particular parcel this is usually the most important document.

IPLO — Omgevingsvisie · IPLO — Omgevingsverordening · IPLO — Waterschapsverordening: overgangsrecht · wetten.overheid.nl — Omgevingswet

The environmental plan is still in transition

On 1 January 2024 every municipality automatically received an environmental plan. It has a temporary part and a new part. The temporary part contains the old zoning plans and other former plans, some municipal by-laws and the so-called dowry (bruidsschat). The new part stays empty until the municipality adds its own rules.

The dowry consists of national rules on subjects the national government no longer regulates itself. The government added them to the temporary part automatically when the act came into force. The municipality can keep, change or drop them.

Municipalities are working towards one complete new environmental plan. The transition period runs until 1 January 2032; IPLO, the government information point, says the end of 2031. Until then, an old zoning plan and new rules can apply to the same parcel. You find both in Regels op de kaart (rules on the map), which replaces the viewer of ruimtelijkeplannen.nl. That old website is still online, but its information may be incomplete or out of date.

IPLO — Omgevingsplan van rechtswege · IPLO — Overgangsfase omgevingsplan · Staatsblad 2023, 267 — einddatum van de overgangsfase · IPLO — Transitie ruimtelijkeplannen.nl

The national rules: Bal, Bbl, Bkl and the Decree

The act itself mainly sets out the framework. The details are in four orders in council (AMvB’s). The Environmental Activities Decree (Bal) and the Buildings Decree (Bbl) contain national rules for residents and businesses. The Bal covers activities in the environment, such as polluting activities and discharges. The Bbl contains the rules for building, using and demolishing structures, and replaced the Building Decree 2012.

The Environmental Quality Decree (Bkl) is addressed to the authorities themselves, with environmental values, instruction rules and assessment rules, among others. The Environment and Planning Decree (Omgevingsbesluit) mainly sets out which authority decides and how procedures work. Technical details, such as what an application must contain, are in the Environment and Planning Regulation.

IPLO — Inhoud van de Omgevingswet in het kort · wetten.overheid.nl — Omgevingswet

No permit, a notification or an environmental permit

Building involves two activities. The technical building activity concerns the technical building rules of the Bbl. The environmental plan activity concerns whether the structure fits the rules of the environmental plan. One application can cover several activities, but it does not have to.

Permit-free (vergunningvrij) means you do not need to apply for a permit. The technical rules of the Bbl still apply. Whether the spatial rules of the environmental plan also apply depends on the exemption: some permit-free building is exempt from those rules under specific conditions. Check both the technical and spatial parts in the Omgevingsloket. A duty to notify or inform may still apply.

If you apply for an environmental permit, the regular procedure usually applies. The competent authority, usually the municipality, then normally decides within 8 weeks and can extend that period once by up to 6 weeks. In a limited number of cases the extended procedure applies, with a decision period of 6 months.

IPLO — Bouwen: vergunning of melding · IPLO — Bijbehorende bouwwerken · IPLO — Reguliere procedure omgevingsvergunning · IPLO — Korte en uitgebreide voorbereidingsprocedure

How to check the rules for your parcel

The Omgevingsloket at omgevingswet.overheid.nl is part of the national digital system for the act (DSO). Regels op de kaart shows which rules and plans apply at a location. The permit check (Vergunningcheck) asks questions about your plan and tells you whether you need a permit or must give notice. Through Aanvragen you submit an application or a notification.

You cannot derive any rights from the outcome of the permit check. If the check has no questions about your activity, it advises you to contact, for example, the municipality or the water authority. If you are unsure, or your plan is larger, it is wise to talk to the municipality early. Some municipalities offer Verken uw idee (explore your idea) in the Omgevingsloket for this.

Perceelkaarten shows the parcel boundary but no DSO planning layer yet. An empty area on the map therefore says nothing about what is allowed. Note the cadastral reference and the address, look up the location in Regels op de kaart and read the rules that belong to each coloured area.

IPLO — Omgevingsloket op hoofdlijnen · IPLO — Resultaat van de Vergunningcheck · Rijksoverheid — De Omgevingswet voor inwoners · Omgevingsloket — Regels op de kaart