Proportionellt skydd eller strandad lagstiftning?

Abstract

The coastal protection in Sweden is a legislated prohibition, an exemption from the prohibition is demanded to be able to establish or develop a function, such as housing, within the between 100 and 300-meter-wide coastal zone. This legislation is intended to avoid damage on the purposes of the coastal protection which are twofold, partly to enable outdoor activities, partly to preserve animal and plant life. Within the study it is examined how land in the coastal protection zone is utilized in Tjörn municipality, which is an island region with long coastal line and consequently a lot of protected areas. The study specifically focuses on how common interest is invoked when land is utilized and how the new practice, that was formed 2015-2016, on the coastal protection legislation affects the planning within the municipality. The new practice emphasises the importance of the localization analysis of functions that is to be placed in the coastal zone. In short, the practice states that if an establishment of a function affects the purposes of the coastal protection negatively, if possible, it should be located elsewhere. To answer the research questions of the study, qualitative interviews with the stakeholders on Tjörn have been conducted and the collected material is processed with a thematic analysis. The stakeholders that has been interviewed is representatives from Tjörn municipality, the county government Länssyrelsen in Västra Götaland, the nature protection association Tjörns Naturskyddsförening and the local housing company Tjörns Bostäder AB. These stakeholders have described that the coastal planning has shifted towards demands on a more extensive localization analysis prior to development in the coastal zone. The stakeholders have also described how they work with the three dimensions of sustainable development that are formalized in the new practice of the legislation. The conflict of aims, that is identified within the study, is related to the difference in the view of the stakeholders on how they should work with ecological, economic and social sustainability when planning the coastal zone.