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Cars drive past an air measurement station in Ludwigsburg: no driving ban for the time being
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
The governments in Hamburg and Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg need to improve the air quality in their cities.
The so-called clean air plans would have to be updated again, decided the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
Hamburg may also have to impose diesel driving bans if the nitrogen oxide limit values cannot otherwise be complied with.
In Kiel, the Schleswig Higher Administrative Court has to deal again with the air pollution control plans (Az. 7 C 2.20 et al.).
The environmental associations Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) had sued in the case of Ludwigsburg and the city of Kiel as well as the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) in Hamburg.
Nitrogen oxides are mainly produced in road traffic and can be harmful to health.
That is why limit values apply for days and in the annual mean.
Previous forecasts in Hamburg incorrect
However, the limit values were exceeded at certain measuring stations in the cities.
The respective federal states were therefore condemned by the lower courts to improve the air quality and in some cases to impose restrictions on diesel vehicles.
The cities and states appealed to the Federal Administrative Court against the judgments.
In the case of Hamburg, this largely confirmed the previous decision of the Higher Administrative Court.
Accordingly, Hamburg must take a look at diesel restrictions.
According to the court, whether they would be necessary depends on the current forecasts.
The previous forecasts on nitrogen oxides are flawed because commuter traffic is not sufficiently factored in.
Air filter reports in Kiel must be taken into account
In addition, the Federal Administrative Court confirmed that the measured values at a height of one and a half meters are decisive - not four meters, as the city argued.
The Leipzig judges, on the other hand, did not consider a second planning stage required by the Higher Administrative Court to be legally necessary in the event that the values develop worse than expected.
In the Ludwigsburg case, too, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the air quality had to be improved.
The lower instance, the Baden-Württemberg Administrative Court in Mannheim, rightly objected to the city's prognosis.
However, the Federal Administrative Court considers diesel driving bans to be disproportionate if the limit value is complied with in the following year.
In the case of Kiel, the higher administrative court in Schleswig has to judge again.
The Federal Administrative Court decided that a submitted report on air filters had to be taken into account.
In an initial reaction, Jürgen Resch, the federal managing director of the DUH, announced: "This is a good day for clean air and the people in Ludwigsburg, Kiel and Hamburg." Instead of clean air "to ensure clean air" through honest measures, "Green state ministers of all people tried in Ludwigsburg and Kiel, nitrogen dioxide can only be cleaned directly next to measuring sensors with "absurd air vacuum cleaners".
"And again we needed court decisions to enforce compliance with environmental regulations," said Resch.
ene / AFP
