Greven/Münster (dpa/lnw) – For the second time in a few weeks, the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court in Münster has insisted that nature conservation concerns must be respected and placed above culture and leisure. On Monday, the OVG informed that the use of a beach bar in the floodplains of the Ems in Greven in the Steinfurt district must be prohibited. The beach bar is located in a nature reserve. The Münster Administrative Court had already granted an application by NABU (Nature Conservation Union) and found a violation of prohibitions in the applicable landscape plan. The OVG agreed. The decision is not contestable (Ref.: 21 B 863/22, decision of August 5th, 2022).
The reason given by the OVG is that the city of Greven has not presented any reasons to overturn the decision of the lower court. The administrative court found that the beach bar was operated illegally and that the city was undoubtedly aware of this.
At the beginning of June, the OVG confirmed that concerts on the Rhine island of Grafenwerth would remain banned. The island in Bad Honnef in the Rhein-Sieg district is in a nature reserve. The Bund (Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz) had opposed three concerts over Pentecost and was right in an urgent procedure. Both the administrative court and the OVG saw the permission for the concerts as a violation of environmental legislation.
