Berlin-Pankow – urgent application against Kiezblock successful
dpa/Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert
Video: rbb24 Abendschau | 01/03/2024 | T. Dirtler & V. Kleber | Image: dpa/Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert
Neighborhood blocks are intended to prevent more and more car traffic from rolling through residential areas. An intersection was also closed in Pankow – but a citizen filed an urgent application against it. The Berlin Administrative Court has now upheld this.
Streets may only be closed to car traffic using bollards in the event of particular dangers. The Berlin Administrative Court announced this decision on Wednesday.
According to the court, the blocking of a street in the Berlin district of Pankow by posts, with which a so-called neighborhood block was to be designed, is not permitted.
Urgent application against bollards in Pankow
The Pankow district council asked the district office in 2021 to reduce through traffic on Nesselweg. The reason for this was, among other things, that people often drive too fast on the street. This endangers children on the way to daycare or school.
A citizen had submitted an urgent application against the bollards. The administrative court approved this. According to the court’s findings, there is no danger in Nesselweg that would justify setting up the bollards.
An appeal against the decision can be lodged with the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court.
Neighborhood block against traffic congestion in residential areas
The “Kiezblocks” initiative brings together the wishes of residents for changes in road traffic on their doorstep. This has been around since 2020 and is part of the “Changing Cities” association, which otherwise primarily advocates for better conditions for cyclists in Berlin.
The aim of the initiative: There should be 180 so-called neighborhood blocks in Berlin. 63 are already listed on the website, but in very different stages of planning and implementation [kiezblocks.de]. The project was supported by the red-red-green Senate on the grounds that traffic congestion in Berlin has increased over the past 20 years.
Closing roads, particularly in residential areas, should lead to less traffic and a rethink among drivers.
Bollard on Nesselweg “individual action”
The initiators of the “Kiezblock” concept see the decision as having no impact on their projects. “The bollards on Nesselweg are an individual action and implemented in an administratively unclean manner,” said a spokeswoman. The initiative emphasized that a “neighborhood block” does not only consist of bollards. A passage block is just one of many measures in an urban planning concept to make walking and cycling safer and neighborhoods more livable.
Criticism of changes to the Berlin Mobility Act
In autumn 2023, the transport policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives, Tino Schopf, criticized the Changes to the Berlin Mobility Act announced by the CDU Transport Senate. More than 70 Berlin associations, organizations and companies have also spoken out in favor of maintaining the Mobility Act.
The CDU parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives no longer wants to give cycling priority over car traffic in the future. Cycle paths should also be allowed to be narrower.
Broadcast: rbb24 Abendschau, January 3rd, 2024, 7:30 p.m
2024-01-03 20:29:33
#Urgent #application #Kiezblock #successful
