ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the public authorities try to influence the nature, form and location of physical development by applying the Physical Planning Act. A good and very practical start to a description of the way in which physical planning seeks to guide urban development is to take the viewpoint of the person who wants to change it. The Public Nuisance Act requires that activities that can cause danger, damage, or nuisance must obtain a permit to operate, to expand, or to change the operating processes. A municipal council can choose to issue a preliminary decree that a land-use plan is being prepared for the area indicated in the decree. A municipality may always implement a land-use plan using its powers under public law. A tax is levied on the “obtaining” of gifts and inherited property when the person who gives or who leaves the inheritance is a resident of the Netherlands.
