Environmental degradation through (non)planned and (il)legal construction

In Serbia, the planning, arrangement, and use of space, as well as the construction of facilities and the performance of construction works, are regulated by the Law on Planning and Construction, which requires that spatial and urban plans be in conformity with the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia, as the fundamental and highest-level document in this field of planning. At the same time, in the planning system of the Republic of Serbia, it represents a development-planning document with which all strategies and other public policy documents must be in conformity. However, the long-term foundations for the organization, arrangement, use, and protection of the territory of the Republic of Serbia, aimed at harmonizing economic and social development with the natural, ecological, and cultural potentials and constraints of its territory, were established only for the period from 2010 to 2020 and not beyond this point. Consequently, from the perspective of environmental impact, the author examines the strategic-development and general regulatory functions of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia. In this regard, the paper also analyzes the adequacy of the solutions provided by the Law on Planning and Construction and accompanying by-laws, as well as their conformity with the rules on strategic environmental impact assessment of plans and on environmental impact assessment of projects. This is particularly significant given that the Law explicitly prohibits the application of the provisions of other laws that regulate the issues covered by this Law in a different manner, except for those laws and regulations governing environmental protection.