An informative event was held on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in the meeting room of the Regional Council, in Kozani, on the topic of “Urban planning in Western Macedonia”, co-organized by the Western Macedonia Department of TEE and the Greek Association of Urban, Spatial and Regional Development Engineers (SEMPPHA) .
The main speakers were Dr. Efthimios Bakoyannis, Town Planner – Transportation Engineer, Assistant Professor of NTUA and Secretary General of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and Mr. Lambros Kissas, Town Planner – Town Planner (SEMPPHA), while the event was graced with the presence of the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Triandopoulos Christos, with responsibility for the restoration of natural disasters, the Member of Parliament of the Prefecture of Kozani and former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Michalis Papadopoulos and the General Secretary of Natural Disaster Recovery and State Aid, of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Petros Kambouris.
The President of TEE/TDM, Mr. Stergios Kianas, after welcoming the esteemed participants to the event, referred to the planning of the Urban Reforms Program “Konstantinos Doxiadis”, which is implemented with the Contracting Authority the Technical Chamber of Greece, which came to cover the necessity of completing the spatial planning for the development and sustainability of the country, since to date there are no approved and/or updated urban planning plans, which establish land uses, building conditions, protection areas, areas for the development of productive activities, stream demarcations, special areas urban incentives, transport and construction networks.
The President, Mr. Stergios Kianas added that already in the Region of Western Macedonia, ten studies of Local Urban Planning Plans, one study of Demarcation of Settlements have been announced, while two Municipalities are included in the Study for Zones of Reception of Construction Factors and that the TEE/TDM is located next to the Central TEE, in the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the General Secretariat of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment, to the Municipalities of the region and the designers, for assisting in the preparation of the Town Planning Plans and solving possible issues, with the main aim of achieving the best possible quality of the studies and avoiding failures .
Afterwards, Mr. Stergios Kianas recognized that Western Macedonia is a special case, nationally and pan-Europeanly, as it is experiencing a process of de-lignitization and radical transformation of its economy towards a new development model in the context of the just transition, with significant losses of thousands of jobs but also important financial resources towards the new era and therefore, the TPS of the Municipalities of Western Macedonia will be more difficult exercises for the researchers and will definitely have to be coordinated at the District level.
Finally, he stated that the development planning and programming of the Western Macedonia Region is already in an active implementation phase, supporting the progress and prosperity of our region and that some important challenges remain in the field of spatial planning, especially with regard to two critical projects that are still ongoing:
- The revision of the Regional Spatial Plan, a project of vital importance for the organized development and sustainable use of the territorial resources of the region.
- The revision of the Special Spatial Plan for Renewable Energy Sources, a strategic project that will guide the economic transition of Western Macedonia towards a more sustainable future.
The event started with the greeting of Ms. Eleni Verani, President of the Steering Committee of the Greek Association of Town Planning, Spatial and Regional Development Engineers (SEMPPHA), who pointed out that Local Town Planning Plans (TPS) and Special Town Planning Plans (STPs) are tools productive and developmental reconstruction of the country and that SEMBHPA has been helpful in the public debate, which has taken place until today.
Dr. Efthimios Bakoyannis, Town Planner – Transportation Engineer, Assistant Professor of NTUA and General Secretary of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, after thanking the President of TEE/TDM, Mr. Stergios Kiana for the invitation to participate in the event and attend in Western Macedonia, in an area that has a tradition of urban planning (creation of ZEP, relocation of settlements due to lignite production, etc.), as well as the President of TEE, Mr. Georgios Stasinos, for conducting the titanic project of the tender process for TPS and EPS, informed those present about the recent signing of the Regional Zoning Plan of our region and its imminent publication in the Official Gazette. In his speech on the topic “Presentation of the Konstantinos Doxiadis program”, he then stated that in order to study and produce this huge database of the whole territory for TPS and PES, almost all the specialties of engineers worked and were employed and the huge shortage of executives in the field of Topography, Town Planning and Spatial Planning was highlighted. As Mr. Bakoyiannis characteristically said, with the Single Digital Map, which will be put into pilot test operation in 2025, the finalization of the forest maps and the completion of the cadastral register, we will have three extremely useful development tools in our hands, both for the within, as well as for the non-planned areas, in which the TPS are trying to resolve many years of pathogens. Finally, he gave some more specific information on what the TPS will include, such as the delineation of streams at the level of flow line determination and the resolution of critical issues regarding the adequacy of plots and fields, and closed his speech with optimism that in the near future there will be an acceleration of construction activity, since it is planned to include in e-permits all the permits of public bodies, which will make the application a leading development tool, in combination with the evolution of building inspectors into arbitrary inspectors.
The Mayor of Grevena and Dipl. Architect Engineer, Mr. Tataridis Kyriakos in his presentation, raised his concerns about the reduction of the population, but also the few fire protection possibilities that the Municipalities have, he demonstrated the fact that the Prefecture of Grevena tends to turn into a prefecture of hydroelectric power production and he also raised the issue of the uncontrolled development of RES, in the absence of a more general plan.
Ms. Kyriaki Chatzimanoli, Deputy Mayor of Tourism, Urban Planning and KEP, Municipality of Kozani, conveyed the greetings of the Mayor of Kozani, Mr. Yiannis Kokkaliaris and in her speech she acknowledged that the development of productive activities is directly intertwined with TPS. He referred to the prospects that these create in the production of projects, in the attraction of investments and the development of entrepreneurship, something that Western Macedonia needs. Finally, he raised the issue of the need to stop the anarchic development of RES and the need to create a modern plan.
On behalf of the Mayor Argos Orestikos, his specialist partner Mr. Christos Liokos and the General Secretary of the Municipality Mr. Alexandros Karatzios attended the event. Mr. Liokos raised concerns and questions concerning the Municipality of Argos Orestikos, but also more broadly in the Prefecture of Kastoria, regarding the Zones of Acceptance of Construction Factors, the SCHOOAP, the Residential Control Zones, the VI.PA. Kastoria, the old street planning plans signed by the Prefect, which have been rendered invalid by the Council of Ministers and the “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program.
Representing the Municipality of Florina, Mr. Konstantinidis Nikolaos, Deputy Mayor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Planning, Organization and Informatics and Municipal Police, pointed out the large understaffing of the OTAs, which will make it difficult to complete the task of preparing the TPS on time and the need to open again category 5 of arbitrary.
The Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Triandopoulos Christos, with responsibility for the restoration of natural disasters, referred to the excellent cooperation he has with the TEE, so that the reform of the institutional framework can proceed with the aim of including the procedures that must exist after some natural disaster.
Member of Parliament N. Kozanis and former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Michalis Papadopoulos raised the question of whether the urban planning plans are up-to-date and of the delay observed on the part of PPC regarding the completion of its own plans, which leads in the difficulty of attracting investments.
Mr. Lambros Kissas, Planning and Urban Planning Engineer (SEMPHPA), in his speech on the topic “Prerequisites for the successful preparation of the TPS studies”, noted the need to create a pool of executives in each regional department of the TEE to monitor the drafting of the TPS . He also pointed out the need for each Municipality to take initiatives for the separation of common and public spaces, through studies that will be delivered to the editors of the TPS and mentioned some of the conclusions he has drawn regarding the development of the drafting of the TPS and the PES, but also proposals that mainly concern the effort of the maximum possible cooperation of all agencies, so that each one intervenes to the extent that they concern him.
Finally, Mr. Nikos Koutsomarkos, Vice-President of the Steering Committee of the Regional Section of Northern Greece, of the Greek Association of Town Planning, Spatial Planning and Regional Development (SEMPPHA) thanked the President of TEE/TDM, Stergios Kiana, for the initiative of holding such a timely event, since it is the first regional Department of the TEE to undertake such an initiative. He pointed out the importance of preparing the TPS studies, since they are a constitutionally guaranteed right of the citizens, which will contribute both to their daily life and to the response to national crises. Mr. Koutsomarkos then referred to the importance and usefulness of planning and the responsibility of the work of the designers, he emphasized the need to staff the Municipalities with properly trained staff, for the success of the project and the importance of Participatory Planning, i.e. decentralization of the responsibilities to provincial bodies. As he characteristically stated, it is necessary to consult and accept the plans by the local communities, because they concern, and therefore, the participation of the competent bodies should be ensured by mobilizing the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Interior.
The Vice-President of the Panhellenic Association of Graduated Agricultural Surveyors/Western Macedonia Section (PSATM/TDM), Mrs. Aikaterini Liakou, referred to the important work carried out by colleagues Dipl. Agronomists Topographical Engineers and in the important role they will have in the preparation of the TPS and the PES.
The event ended with a dialogue between the speakers and the audience, various interesting questions were raised, which were adequately answered.
The President of TEE/TDM, Mr. Stergios Kianas thanked all the distinguished speakers and attendees for their participation in the event. He emphasized that the signing of the Regional Spatial Plan of Western Macedonia is very important for our region and also informed about the initiative taken by the TEE/TDM to set up a Group for “Support, monitoring, evaluation and acceleration of Local and Special Urban Plans” , for which the Invitation to participate is already posted on the Department’s website. He pledged to take new initiatives for the repetition of a similar event, in a second year, which will concern the development of the preparation of the studies, possibly also per Prefecture, so that more targeted information can be provided to the Municipalities.
