On Wednesday, the Ministry of Transport sent a draft in consultation with the executive order of cutting off access to redress in connection with the construction of Lynetteholmen.
With that in hand, the government will remove the right of appeal that citizens and organizations usually have.
Ole Damsgaard, deputy chairman of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, calls it extremely problematic.
– It puts the public in check.
– If By & Havn changes the project in a way that is harmful to the environment, then the population, organizations have no opportunity to appeal the decision. Even not affected municipalities, he says to Byrummonitor.
The construction period is expected to last until the beginning of 2025.
If the project is delayed, the cut-off of the appeal possibilities will be extended.
Member of Parliament Mette Thiesen from Nye Borgerlige also believes that it is problematic to deprive citizens and organizations of the right to appeal.
– It is deeply, deeply worrying that you lose the right to appeal if some measures are taken that further cloud the marine environment in the Baltic Sea, she says.
The last consultation deadline for the proposal is 29 September.
– We must ask the Minister if he really believes that Lynetteholmen is a project that has been so well described and thoroughly investigated that it is not believed that citizens and organizations should have the opportunity to complain if there are any changes, says Mette Thiesen .
In an email to Byrummonitor, Minister of Transport Benny Engelbrecht (S) writes that a complaint with suspensive effect in relation to the complex schedule of large construction projects entails an excessive risk of both delays and costs.
According to Ellen Margrethe Basse, professor of law in environmental law at Aarhus University, this means in practice that the democratic supervision that is usually exercised by decisions is put out of play.
Source: The Nordic Page