Old, venerable villas being demolished. Large trees leveling the ground. New homes close together. Hardly anything creates such bitter neighborly conflicts in Oslo’s residential areas as densification. Now it must be tightened up sharply. – It has been reasonably Texas for a while, says city council leader Raymond Johansen (Ap). – A lot of necessary and good consolidation has happened. But it has probably gone a long way, he says. Will take better care of the green Now the three city council parties are going out and inviting the city council to a broad settlement on new and stricter rules. The rules go under the name of the small house plan. – There has been a lot of densification that people don’t think has worked well. Too dense construction and too much encroachment on green areas and the terrain. That’s what SV city councilor Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll says. INVITES COOPERATION: The city council parties want the widest possible majority for the rules to stand over time. Here are Hanna E. Marcussen (MDG), Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll (SV) and Raymond Johansen (Ap). Photo: Olav Juven / news The main intention is for Oslo to take better care of the nature found in the small house areas and preserve more of the areas’ character. – There has been a lot of discussion, especially about projects where you remove almost all vegetation, lay a concrete cover and build close to single-family homes, says city development councilor Hanna Marcussen (MDG). 28,300 properties affected The final proposal for new and stricter rules will be presented to the city council on Tuesday. The small house plan includes 28,300 properties in 13 districts. – The main steps are to allow somewhat smaller development and to have rules that protect terrain and vegetation to a greater extent, says Hanne Marcussen. These are the most important points to achieve it: There must be at least 600 square meters of land per housing unit for detached houses. 450 square meters per housing unit for two- and three-person homes. Four-person homes and more than three houses in a row are basically not allowed. Will require separate zoning plan to be permitted. Only 16 percent of the plot can be built on. Today, the limit is 24 percent. At least 60 percent of the site must be free of terrain encroachment. Ban on removing large trees. Ban on roof terraces. Basically a ban on demolishing homes from before 1945. MANY WILL BE AFFECTED: The new rules cover 28,300 plots of land where there are currently around 40,000 housing units. Photo: Rolf Petter Olaisen / news Higher and denser elsewhere The city council recognizes that the new rules will result in fewer new homes than the old rules. – Oslo needs more housing. We are a growing city, says Hanna Marcussen. She says that most of the growth up to now has also happened elsewhere than in the detached house areas. The city council will nevertheless make up for the lost by building higher and denser elsewhere. – We want to allow more densification around the public transport hubs, also by being able to build somewhat higher in those areas, says Marcussen further. She points out that the city council will also present a new proposal for a high-rise strategy on Tuesday. Here they point out ten areas that they believe can withstand high-rise buildings of up to 70 metres. The limit today is 42 metres. Controversial building ban In anticipation of the austerity measures, Oslo municipality introduced a building ban in April last year. The purpose was to prevent builders this year from building as high and as close as possible before new rules came into effect. The building ban has been highly controversial. A leak meant that someone was notified in advance and had time to apply before a full stop was put in place. Therefore, an eight-week amnesty from the ban was introduced in February. Inviting cooperation The aim is to adopt the new rules in the city council before the summer and in good time before the election. City council leader Raymond Johansen hopes for the widest possible majority for the single-family house plan. He says that it is important to have predictable rules that can stand up over time. – That is why the city council parties have initially invited the Conservatives and Liberals to a broad collaboration on this plan. I am very happy that they have agreed to it, says Johansen.
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Oslo City Council is tightening up on construction in the new single-family house plan – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
