Sites in the Geeste lowlands safeguard port development
The port management company bremenports has signed an agreement with the nature conservation foundation of Cuxhaven rural district to secure compensatory mitigation sites near Ringstedt in the Geeste lowlands.
According to the agreement, the nature conservation foundation will prepare compensatory mitigation measures on a 100-hectare site for the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The foundation will be responsible for the further planning, securing planning permission, implementation and ongoing development of the necessary compensatory mitigation measures.
bremenports Managing Director Robert Howe thanked the nature conservation foundation for the close cooperation. “Port and nature development go hand in hand. This agreement provides an important and reliable basis for port development during this decade, as our cooperation with the nature conservation foundation will enable us to carry out future port development projects quickly and on a legally sound footing.”
As the implementation of planned port projects in and around Bremerhaven can have adverse impacts on nature and countryside, appropriate compensatory mitigation measures have to be confirmed as early as during the planning process. As a rule, sites have to be purchased to enable these measures to be implemented. Moreover, it has to be ensured that these compensatory mitigation measures satisfy the official planning requirements before approval is granted for the individual construction project.
Purchasing suitable sites and planning compensatory mitigation measures are time-consuming processes which can lead to delays in important port construction projects. bremenports has therefore decided to prepare suitable compensatory mitigation measures without reference to any specifically planned project. The plans envisage that the nature conservation foundation will purchase the sites in the course of 2022.
