State treaty and association's statute
The state treaty signed by the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse und Rhineland-Palatinate on July 26th, 2005 marked the foundation of the Rhine-Neckar Regional Association. The core declaration of the document states that regional planning and development tasks in the metropolitan region are to be jointly performed on an inter-state basis. In detail, the treaty determines the members and bodies belonging to the association, as well as defining the task areas and financing and legal supervision issues. Within the scope of the agreement, the three federal states, analogue to the VRRN, expanded the jurisdiction of the joint spatial development commission to encompass the entire planning spectrum of the metropolitan region. Its task is to coordinate the targets of the respective supreme federal state planning authorities.
The association's statute primarily lays down the rights, obligations and areas of responsibility of the association bodies and committees. It also contains the budgetary articles and the provisions covering the association levies. Furthermore, the council of elders, which decides on the organisational procedures for committee meetings, is also anchored in the statute.
History
The state treaty on the foundation of the Rhine-Neckar Regional Association from July 26th, 2005 represents the first ever basis for the preparation of a Standardised Regional Plan transgressing the three federal state borders.
Up until then, there had been three regional plans for the respective sub-regions of the federal states together with the spatial development plan drawn up by the Rhine-Neckar Spatial Development Association (ROV), so to speak as a "framework plan". This two-stage procedure meant that not only was regional planning confined by the respective federal state development plans, but the ROV was also responsible for the ongoing coordination of the standardised, cross-border regional development, including where the preparation of the spatial development plan was concerned.
The foundation of the Rhine-Neckar Spatial Development Association was made possible by the first state treaty signed in 1969, which at that time was likewise the result of persistent regional striving. The ROV was to a certain extent an umbrella association. Its members were the Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald Regional Association - formerly called Lower Neckar - (Baden-Württemberg), the Rhine-Palatinate Planning Department (Rhineland-Palatinate) and the Bergstrasse administrative district (Hesse). These members sent representatives appointed by the representational bodies (association assembly, regional representation, district council) to the ROV's association assembly.
Distinctive synergy effects were derived from the cooperative planning style of this "joint administration": Based on mutual agreements, the ROV administrative body carried out both planning and administration work for the Rhine-Palatinate planning department and the Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald Regional Association.
At federal state level there existed, and continues to exist, the spatial development commission for coordinating state-related planning issues which is made up of representatives from the supreme state planning authorities of the three federal states.
The 2005 state treaty also remedied another unusual situation: The territories covered by the Rhine-Palatinate planning department and the Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald Regional Association were significantly larger than their sub-regions that belonged to the ROV territory (see map). These are now fully integrated.
The forerunner of the ROV was the "Rhine-Neckar Communal Working Group", which was founded as a limited company in 1951 (see also: The Rhine-Neckar state triangle on the way to becoming a European Metropolitan Region – facts and background information).
The ROV formed the very first framework for a successful, and nationwide unique, inter-state co-operation. The spatial development association was quite rightly regarded as a model for cooperative federalism, a model that was to set an example for other cross-border regions.
The Rhine-Neckar 2000 spatial development plan and the regional plans (including their respective revisions) will remain valid through to the preparation of the new Standardised Regional Plan.
