Land a cquisition for temporary use during construction of municipal streets

Abstract: When infrastructure is under construction there may be a necessity for temporary land access. This thesis aims to explore the temporary needs of land while municipal streets and roads are being constructed. Needs that doesn´t remain when the street is completed. Those needs can for example be temporary cargo roads or - as the cover image shows - a work area by the side of the road. When national infrastructure is constructed there are legal possibilities to arrange temporary land access compulsively. Temporary usufruct can be created forcibly through work plans according to the Railway Construction Act and the Road Act. On the other hand, when municipal infrastructure is constructed these legislations do not apply. There is no law that directly regulates municipal road construction. In special legislation which regulates municipal land access there is no explicit support for compulsive temporary land access. An empirical study shows that municipalities to a high degree rely on voluntary agreements to access land temporary. In those situations where agreements cannot be met, but there is still a great need of temporary land access, the municipality turn to the cadastral authority. However, the cadastral authority has dubious support in legislation to establish rights of a temporary nature compulsively. A solution that has been applied in practice is formation of temporary easement by the cadastral authority, to meet the necessity of temporary work areas. This solution would be contrary to the requirement of that the purpose of easements must be of permanent significance. Interviews has also indicated that easements formed by the cadastral authority for permanent roadside ditches sometimes also are used as temporary work areas during construction of streets. If such an easement is used for another purpose than a ditch, the easement’s right is exceeded. It cannot be considered a legal secure order that easements are used for other purposes than intended. There have not been found a satisfactory way in the legislation to compulsively meet the need of temporary land access for municipalities. It is therefore proposed that a change is made in the legislation to allow the cadastral authority to form temporary easements for temporary land access. The change should be an exception of the requirement for permanent significance in those cases the purpose of the easement fulfills an important public interest and is temporary. As an alternative, enabling of temporary usufruct through zoning plans could be a solution to the problem.