Augsburg (dpa / lby) – After the unauthorized construction work on a protected torrent in the Allgäu Alps, the Augsburg administrative court rejected the urgent application of an alpine cooperative. The district office of Oberallgäu had requested a comprehensive inventory and flood protection measures from the cooperative. In contrast, the cooperative had submitted the application to the court and failed, according to a court spokesman on Wednesday.
According to previous investigations, the alpine cooperative had massively redesigned the strictly protected Rappenalpbach near Oberstdorf by dredging over a length of 1.6 kilometers. Environmental groups are talking about the destruction of nature, and the police are investigating someone responsible. The case also concerns the state parliament.
In November, the district authority demanded that the cooperative commission a surveying office to document the changes and submit the results within a few days. In addition, the company is to arrange for dam openings to be coordinated at short notice in order to avoid flooding. The cooperative complained, however, on the grounds that the previous work on the Rappenalpbach had been coordinated with the district office.
The judges clearly rejected this view. There should have been an approval process for the water body development. However, such a procedure was neither carried out nor can the work be subsequently approved, the court emphasized. The official order is therefore necessary. The cooperative can now turn on the Bavarian Administrative Court in Munich.
The district office emphasized that with the court decision it is now possible for the authority to have the immediate measures ordered carried out at the expense of the alpine cooperative. The office described the court decision as “pointing the way”. The judges had made it clear that a memorandum from the district authority could not be misunderstood as approval for the dredging work on this scale.
