This is to be developed jointly by the two cities.

On Friday, April 1, Markurth and Klingebiel submitted a joint proposal to the political committees of both cities with the aim of examining the feasibility of such an inter-municipal commercial and industrial area Brauschweig-Salzgitter.

"Two aspects are particularly important to me," emphasizes Lord Mayor Klingebiel, "fact-based cooperation is a question of will and conviction; this requires neither reforms nor regional brackets. We see great development potential here for a joint business park and hope that this expectation will be fulfilled."

"I am delighted that we are able to present this proposal for a joint project between our two cities today," says Braunschweig's Lord Mayor Ulrich Markurth. "This is a great success. It gives us a strong regional impetus. We hope that this project will set an example for concrete regional cooperation in which neighboring municipalities work together to exploit synergy effects and benefit together."

The area north of the A 39 at the city boundary between Braunschweig and Salzgitter represents almost the only spatial opportunity to create new industrial areas in Braunschweig, as larger distances must be maintained between the nearest residential development and an industrial area for reasons of immission control. Apart from the Watenstedt area, there are also only a few areas in the city of Salzgitter where new industrial areas could be created on a larger scale.

These previously undeveloped and unplanned areas with a total size of around 300 hectares represent the largest potential area for commercial/industrial use in Braunschweig and Salzgitter. Of this, around 176 hectares are located in the city of Salzgitter and around 124 hectares in the city of Braunschweig. There is already a commercial/industrial settlement axis to the east of the Salzgitter branch canal: this would be usefully supplemented to the north by the joint commercial and industrial area.

Initial planning situation

The areas are shown as commercial and industrial areas in the regional plan. The land use plans of the cities of Salzgitter and Braunschweig show commercial development areas in the Stiddien-Beddingen area north of the Salzgitter-Thiede junction of the A 39. No development plans exist. In 2005, the city council of Braunschweig passed a pre-emption statute for the Braunschweig part of the potential commercial and industrial area with the aim of increasing the city's ownership share.

Demand and property situation

The city of Braunschweig currently has little vacant industrial space, despite constant demand. In Salzgitter, there is great demand for additional industrial sites, especially those that allow 24-hour operation.

The Grundstücksgesellschaft der Stadt Braunschweig owns considerable land in the area of the sites in question on Braunschweig territory. On the territory of the city of Salzgitter, a large part of the land is owned by the city. Land would have to be acquired for the other areas.

Traffic development

The traffic connections are almost ideal with the A 39, the Beddingen marshalling yard, the Beddingen port and the Salzgitter freight village. The area can only be sensibly connected to the A 39 via the city of Salzgitter. The development of the Braunschweig part of the site is not economically feasible on its own.

Initial planning assessment

The enormous land reserves of this potential building area offer great opportunities to enable a wide range of commercial and industrial uses. The transport links and the real estate conditions are good. With appropriate consideration of sensitive areas, there is a chance of minimizing the impact on nature conservation issues.

Advantages of inter-municipal cooperation

In general, a coordinated approach to the development of a joint rather than two independent business parks is preferable. In this way, friction losses and competition for land can be limited. In the planning phase, it is easier and more cost-effective to jointly commission expert opinions and overall planning and to realize a more sensible overall arrangement of building and other uses. In view of the size of the area, it will make conceptual sense to define different areas for commercial and industrial uses of different sizes and sectors.

Advantages can also be generated in the realization phase, be it in joint marketing, traffic development, in controlling the settlement of companies according to sector (so-called clustering) and in setting up the necessary infrastructure, which is more financially viable in a large area.

Next steps

If the two administrations are given the political mandate to start planning by a decision in principle, the Lord Mayors propose setting up a joint working group with members from both administrations. The task of this working group is to present a feasibility study for the area with at least the following content:

• Description of the planning objectives
• Naming and communication
• Analysis of the local conditions and competitive areas in the immediate and wider surroundings as well as demand trends and target group-specific settlement potential
• Definition of the areas of application for the intermunicipal commercial/industrial area
• Identification of necessary expert opinions and planning scopes and the resulting costs
• Organizational model for the planning phase (working group, steering group, commissioning of expert opinions, preparation of reports, public relations work, allocation of planning costs)
• Evaluation of planning alternatives
• Economic feasibility study
• Timing and cost planning according to phase model; Phase I: Feasibility and planning maturity, II: Purchase of land, III: Development, IV: Marketing and sale.

As of today, the proposal will go to the political committees of both cities, starting in Braunschweig on April 7 with the Timmerlah-Geitelde-Stiddien district council. The Braunschweig council will decide on May 3. In the city of Salzgitter, the local council of the district of Nordost will deal with the matter first on April 21. The decision will be made by the Salzgitter City Council on May 25.

Press contacts

City of Salzgitter: Simone Kessner, telephone 05341 / 839-3395, simone.kessnerstadt.salzgitterde
City of Braunschweig: Rainer Keunecke, telephone 0531 / 470-3773, pressestellebraunschweigde