Salzburg tops Austrian soil policy ranking but still falls short

Austria’s soil policy has received a poor assessment from the environmental organisation WWF, ORF reported. Salzburg ranked first among the federal states with a score of 3.1 on a five-point scale, but was still rated “incomplete”.

WWF said Salzburg stood out for its extensive spatial planning goals and concrete criteria promoting compact construction through housing subsidies. However, it criticised exemptions and unclear requirements in many other areas, saying the protection of agricultural and near-natural land could often be bypassed.

No state receives a good rating

No federal state was rated “exemplary” or “solid”. Lower Austria, Styria and Burgenland also received an “incomplete” rating, equivalent to a grade of three. According to WWF, no state has a binding, numerical target for reducing land consumption.

The organisation described this as a structural problem in spatial planning. “Our analysis shows a clear failure of soil policy,” said Simon Pories, WWF’s soil protection spokesman.

WWF also pointed to major differences in land consumption per person between the states. Large states and several eastern states use particularly large amounts of land per capita, while pressure on limited permanently settled areas is increasing in the Alpine states and Vienna.

About half of the land consumed is sealed, according to WWF. This means it is covered by a largely water and air impermeable layer, such as buildings, roads or car parks.

Upper Austria ranks last

Upper Austria ranked last, with a score of 4.2. WWF said that, apart from general goals and individual approaches in housing subsidies, the areas examined were consistently rated “critical” or “inadequate”. It particularly criticised soil policy concerning commercial zones, computing and logistics centres, tourism projects and road construction.

Carinthia ranked second to last, with a score of 4.0. Six of the 11 areas examined were rated “inadequate”. WWF said the state had set neither overarching settlement boundaries nor binding priority zones for agriculture and nature. It also identified positive measures, including the rezoning of unsuitable surplus building land.

Vienna ranked behind Carinthia with a score of 3.9. As the smallest federal state and a city, Vienna has a special position in land consumption. WWF criticised the Vienna Plan for containing many goals and measures without being legally binding. It also said Vienna’s building regulations contained few specific soil protection requirements and lacked settlement boundaries and overarching legal protection for valuable agricultural and green spaces.

WWF calls for binding targets

For Austria as a whole, WWF is calling on the federal government and the states to adopt binding, numerical soil protection targets, clear limits for new commercial areas and roads, stronger town centres and better protection for undeveloped land.

The organisation said vacant buildings should be used, already developed areas revitalised and agricultural land, green spaces and valuable natural areas protected before new land is sealed.