Inadmissibility decision concerning Germany
The Court declared the application in the case of Büttner and Krebs v. Germany inadmissible.
The case concerned the planning permission for the construction of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The applicants, who owned property near the airport, unsuccessfully challenged the planning decision in the German courts. They alleged that the authorities knowingly provided incorrect information about the projected flight paths during the planning approval procedure. The applicants, whose property is situated on the diverged flight paths, alleged that they had only realised after planning permission had been granted that the noise impact on their properties would be far greater than they had originally thought.
The applicants complained that they had not had access to all the relevant information on the projected flight paths and noise impact of the airport, meaning that they had been unable to effectively challenge the planning decision. They also complained that the German courts had considered as irrelevant certain procedural shortcomings, namely the authorities’ failure to display plans in all the municipalities that were going to be affected by aircraft noise from the new airport and to include in the assessment of the airport’s environmental impact the areas that would be affected by the revised routes.
The Court agreed with the national courts’ assessment of the applicants’ case, which had been thoroughly examined in court proceedings that had provided all necessary safeguards. It notably agreed with the courts’ finding that the rights at stake had been correctly balanced in the planning decision and that, although there had been certain procedural shortcomings, the outcome would not in any event have been more favourable to the applicants. In particular, although the flight paths ultimately used had been different to the ones outlined in the planning decision, the noise impact affected a broadly similar amount of people.