Press release 4 July 2017 12:00am
Friends of Malmi Airport
A complaint has been filed in Helsinki Administrative Court against the Phased Regional Land Use Plan 4 of Uusimaa region. The Friends of Malmi Airport (FoMA) has studied the regional plan and found it to contain numerous errors that have been pointed out to the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council already in the commenting phase. The disputed points have not been taken into account, and the errors have not been corrected.
The regional plan proposes changing the plan symbol of the area of Helsinki-Malmi Airport to that of a population centre without a substitutive solution, required by the State, for all the activities of the airport. No statements have been requested from the Ministry of Transport and Communications or the Ministry for the Environment, to whose administrative sector the future of the area belongs due to the ongoing great change in aviation and the involved cultural environment values.
A surprisingly fast change in the field of electric and unmanned aviation is taking place. This year, a passenger aircraft capable of flying 1000 km on electric power has been introduced. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has not been consulted about the needs of aviation and the effects of the regional plan in this situation.
As regards cultural heritage, in designating the area of Malmi Airport to residential construction, the regional plan is in contradiction with the Finnish Constitution. According to Section 20 of the Constitution, national heritage is the responsibility of everyone. The historical and cultural environment values of Malmi Airport are without doubt considerable even on the European level. Designated by the State, the area of Malmi Airport is a Built Cultural Environment of National Significance (RKY).
An interpretation that conforms with the Constitution, already seen in the RKY designation of the whole area, requires protecting the area of Malmi Airport as a whole. Malmi’s significance to housing construction as a whole is too small to warrant an exception.
The Chairman of the Friends of Malmi Airport, Mr. Timo Hyvönen, is amazed at the poor quality of the decision-making process.
“The matter has been poorly prepared at all levels. The Parliamentary Ombudsman is currently investigating on State level whether it is possible to change the Cabinet’s preconditions related to Malmi Airport in the administrative apparatus. On regional level, no statements on the matter have been requested even from the Ministries under whose administration the matter falls. On the City’s level, the rapid progress in the matter is justified with decisions that have not been recorded anywhere. This means that complaints against the City’s new general plan will be processed in the various instances of Administrative Court in the coming years.”
Mr. Hyvönen regards the developments as incomprehensible in the present situation.
“Even the upcoming expansion of Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport has been spent beforehand, so that Uusimaa region needs an additional capacity of one or even two airports. It remains to be seen how this affects e.g. locating the European Medicines Agency when the accessibility of the Finnish capital is put under scrutiny.”
The continuation of Malmi Airport’s operation is currently being studied in the State’s legislative bodies (the LEX MALMI citizens’ law initiative) and in Helsinki Administrative Court in the context of complaints filed against the City’s general plan. Friends of Malmi Airport is at the moment preparing a rejoinder to the City’s statement, erroneous in many respects, concerning the complaints filed against the general plan.
More information:
Timo Hyvönen
Chairman
Friends of Malmi Airport
tel. +358 50 3748371
puheenjohtaja@malmiairport.fi
The complaint filed by Friends of Malmi Airport can be read in its entirety (in Finnish) under this link.