It is a conflict between the Upper Austrian Economic Council of Economics Markus Achleitner (VP) and the environmentalists of the WWF. At the center of this dispute is a supposedly simple question: How big are the areas that are used in Upper Austria each year to build streets, houses, warehouses, barns, landfills, parking spaces and much more?
Less dedications for building land and traffic
The WWF receives its numbers from the Federal Environment Agency. In 2022, a daily use of 4.25 hectares was shown for Upper Austria – the highest value of all federal states. “Fake News” names Achleitner and presented numbers at a press conference in Linz, which were compiled by the country’s spatial planning department. The employees of the specialist department looked into the area dedication plans and led how much soil has been devoted to building land or for traffic in recent years. The result is pleased with the regional council, because (see graphic above) there have been significant declines in both areas since 2021. The environmentalists also recognize this: “Of course it is positive if there have been declines here,” says WWF floor protection expert Simon Pories.
Criticism of the country’s methodology
However, he vehemently criticizes the country’s methodology. Because only to use these two key figures from the area dedication plans is “definitely too little to draw a complete picture of the use of space in Upper Austria”. Agricultural buildings, landfills or sewage treatment plants would be missing, for example, says Pories.
- From the archive: This is how the soil is consumed by us
This criticism does not disturb Achleitner. He remains: The figures from his specialist department are “the best and most comparable data basis for the use of soil that has ever been available in Austria”.
The Federal Environment Agency will also present new figures this year, which will be charged with a new (and far more complex) method than before. Achleitner assumes that there will be “no big difference” between this data and the figures in the country. WWF expert Pories, on the other hand, suspects that the Federal Environment Agency will come back to “similar results” as in previous surveys.
“Reality only well -colored”
Environmental state councilor Stefan Kaineder (Greens) also criticizes Achleitner for his “numerical games for spatial planning”. He would only “color beauty, while Upper Austria disappears a bit more under gray concrete every day”.
Achleitner also presented significant declines in the so -called building land reserves, i.e. those areas that are already dedicated as building land but have not yet been built on. Shortly after the millennium, these reserves in Upper Austria were tremendous with around 19,000 hectares. In the spring of 2025 there are only 10,576 hectares. However, that is still around 19 percent of the total building land in Upper Austria. Achleitner assumes that there will be further declines – in most cases because the land dedicated is built on, only occasionally there are returns. “Where the land register replaces the savings book, we have to do something,” says Achleitner.
But he also warns of reducing the building land reserves too much. Because “if this value falls below ten or 15 percent, it will increase the pressure on building land prices. Because the availability of building land also determines the price,” he says.
Source: Nachrichten
