Seimas scraps efforts to save Curonian Spit’s illegal buildings from demolition

“Since the authorities fail to find a compromise, this procedure is over. The (government) resolution comes into effect on Feb. 1 next year,” Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis told reporters.
According to the prime minister, the owners of buildings to be demolished for not complying with the Curonian Spit environmental requirements should be compensated for the damage by the authorities that gave the green light for the construction of these buildings.
The situation in the Curonian Spit calls for an overhaul of permit issuing and controlling bodies, Skvernelis said.
“There are general plans and there are special plans. Each (body) supervises various regimes in a certain area based on their special plan and issues permits, which are not coordinated with each other. What we see is chaos and misunderstanding. Perhaps we should and we will look at how to make this process efficient,” he said.
The government had given the ministries for culture and environment until mid-October to approve certain adjustments to the Curonian Spit National Park’s maintenance plan, but they failed to find a compromise.
The plan, adopted by the-then government in June 2012, called for pulling down five buildings and complexes of buildings as courts had ruled that the construction permits had been issues in violation of the law.
The government of former Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius later initiated adjustments to the plan. The State Service for Protected Areas has been trying to get these adjustments approved since the fall of 2015.