Regional co-operation
The city of Chemnitz is intertwined in many areas with its surrounding area, the neighbouring municipalities. This results in the need for planning co-operation.
Important areas of responsibility include the organisation of local public transport, the development of sites for residential and commercial construction, consultation on economic development, cultural and educational offerings and measures to protect natural resources.
Cooperation is partly voluntary and partly in fulfilment of mandatory tasks. The City of Chemnitz works in regional co-operations and is a member of special-purpose associations.
Regional planning association
The Chemnitz Region Planning Association is one of four planning associations in the Free State of Saxony. Members of the association are the independent city of Chemnitz and the districts of Erzgebirgskreis, Mittelsachsen, Vogtlandkreis and Zwickau. The region covers an area of approx. 6,500 km² and has a population of around 1,466,000 (as at 31 December 2015).
History
The predecessors of the Chemnitz Region Planning Association were the Chemnitz-Erzgebirge Regional Planning Association founded on 24 September 1992 and the Southwest Saxony Regional Planning Association founded on 13 October 1992.
On 1 August 2008, as part of the Saxon functional and district reform, the two associations were merged to form the new Chemnitz Region Planning Association and additionally expanded to include the former district of Döbeln.
Tasks
Regional planning has the task of concretising the programmes and plans of state planning and defining the so-called objectives of spatial and state planning specifically for the region. Regional planning thus represents the essential link between the supra-local development concept of the state ("state policy") and the concrete definition of land use at the local level through urban land-use planning ("local policy"). To this end, a regional plan is drawn up by the association's office in consultation with the members of the association (Chemnitz and the above-mentioned districts).
In detail, the association has the following tasks
- to draw up, adopt and update the regional plan and, in doing so, to coordinate the interests of the region within the framework of regional planning, taking into account the planning objectives set by the Free State of Saxony and the principles of regional planning,
- to participate in the preparation and establishment of spatial and regional planning objectives by state authorities in accordance with the provisions of state law,
- to work towards the realisation of development plans,
- to coordinate the regional plan with those of neighbouring regions, taking appropriate account of their interests and spatially significant plans,
- to inform and advise the bodies responsible for urban land-use planning, other public bodies and other planning bodies about the requirements of spatial and regional planning in its association area and to work towards ensuring that spatially significant plans and measures in its area are in harmony with each other and
- to issue statements on spatially significant plans and measures within the framework of regional planning procedures, other regional planning consultations and specialised planning.
Regional Convention
The regional convention is a format organised by the Lord Mayor of the City of Chemnitz and the district councillors of the Erzgebirgskreis, Mittelsachsen, Vogtland and Zwickau districts. Further cooperation in the areas of economic development, transport infrastructure and tourism were agreed as priority topics for the coming years. They also want to tackle the challenges of structural change in the region together.