Legal Guarantees of Public Participation in Spatial Planning and Development

Residents of self-governing communities, organized in formalized structures, often express the need to articulate their own interests and views or to have influence over the content of adopted legal solutions. They are ready to get involved in public matters and collaborate with local government units in regulating affairs that are important to a given local or regional community. Without a doubt, the issue of spatial planning and development falls under this category. The legislator obliged competent bodies to safeguard public participation in works on the study of conditions and directions of spatial development of a municipality, a local spatial development plan and a voivodship spatial development plan. The aim of this paper is to analyse the applicable legal solutions as guarantees of public participation in the planning procedure. Moreover, it provides a basis for assessing real possibilities of participation of residents of local government units in the process of passing planning acts and of real influence over their content.