The administrative court acknowledges the validity of the man's appeal, stating that he did not need to obtain an authorisation to add additional woodsheds to the ones already in place on his property. The court also decided that the state had to cover all procedural costs and pay the man a compensation of €600.
In May 2017, the man submitted an enquiry to the Ministry of the Environment in order to retrospectively obtain an authorisation for the construction of, among other things, a shed for firewood on his property, which is located in a green zone.
After two months, the Minister for the Environment rejected the enquiry. The man submitted an objection to the decision in October 2017 in which he now spoke of a number of sheds. Carole Dieschbourg rejected the case a second time in August 2018. The man then decided to take the case to the administrative court in October of last year.
In their verdict, the judges stressed that the sheds are located within a green zone, meaning that constructions on such properties must be directly related to for instance forest management.
While the sheds were in fact "assemblies of artificially connected materials", their nature was not permanent. The judges argued that the sheds were made up of wooden posts not supported by concrete. Thus, the sheds were not to be seen as "constructions" as they could be disassembled at any moment.
Due to the materials used and the way in which they were assembled, the nature of the sheds is temporary, according to the court. Thus, the minister was in the wrong when she retrospectively refused the man's enquiry.
The judges concluded that Dieschbourg's decision is to be changed to state that the sheds do not require any authorisation. The man had also asked for compensations of €3,000. The court decided that he was entitled to €600 because he had to hire a lawyer.
