On Wednesday, the Prague Municipal Court upheld an administrative lawsuit filed by the Czech Ornithological Society (ČSO) against the Ministry of Transport regarding the permission to build a cable car in Brno. The court’s decision is final, but it can be appealed with a cassation complaint at the Supreme Administrative Court. The proposed cable car would lead from Pisárky to the university campus in Bohunice. The City of Brno considers the CZK 950 million project to be beneficial for transport in the area, which is often congested, but 6,000 people have signed a petition against it.
The decision by the Prague Municipal Court annulled the Ministry of Transport’s decision in April to approve the construction permit, as well as the previous decision by the Railway Authority in October 2022. The court returned the issue to the relevant authorities for further proceedings. “We have come to the unequivocal conclusion that both of these decisions cannot stand and should be annulled,” said Ladislav Hejtmánek, chairman of the Prague Municipal Court.
According to the judge, the Railway Authority issued its decision even though it was established that there are specially protected species of animals in the affected area which will be negatively affected by the construction. Therefore, the authority should have carried out the appropriate procedures according to the Nature and Landscape Protection Act before making a decision. “We are not saying that the plan cannot be implemented, but we are saying that the proceedings must take place,” explained Hejtmánek.
Ornithologists have long warned that the construction would irreversibly damage the valuable forest site on the right bank of the Svratka river, including the largest roosting site of ravens and jackdaws in South Moravia.
The Prague Municipal Court previously granted a suspensory effect based on the ČSO lawsuit, thereby suspending the validity of the building permit until the end of the court proceedings.
ČSO argues that there are factual errors and deficiencies in the ecological assessment of the project, which ignores the fact that specially protected animals live in the area. They say there is a high risk of birds colliding with supporting ropes and glass surfaces, as well as disturbance of all fauna. In addition to the impact on nature, ČSO has highlighted the lack of a study detailing the costs and benefits of the construction. Several property owners near the planned cable car joined the lawsuit, stating that the construction would fundamentally disrupt their private and family life.
The City of Brno’s argument in favour of the project is that many people travel to the university campus and the surrounding area every day, and that the cable car could be used by those attending events in the multi-functional hall on the grounds of the exhibition centre. The Brno Transport Company has also said that the cable car could serve employees and patients of the university hospital. However, the need for a cable car is questioned by the Greens, who argue that the campus area and the hall are already sufficiently served by trams, trolleybuses and buses.
