The Ministry of Home Affairs has annulled a decision by the Dippach local council regarding a land exchange, arguing that the justification for the right of pre-emption was not properly respected.
The case concerns a plot of land in Dippach, originally earmarked for a car park and social housing, which was suddenly meant to be exchanged for another plot – a move the ministry has now blocked.
The annulment is an exceptional procedure. While the municipal executive board of Dippach accepts the ministry's decision, it has said it is disappointed. The opposition, for its part, has criticised the board for allegedly failing to act in the municipality's best interests.
In 2023, the municipality of Dippach purchased a 39-acre plot on Route de Luxembourg for €1.1 million. The plan was to build both a car park and social housing there. Because the project met the criteria for public utility, the local authority was able to exercise its right of pre-emption. To date, however, neither a car park nor social housing has been built on the site.
In March of this year, a resolution was passed by majority vote to exchange roughly three-quarters of the land for a plot in Schouweiler. The price of the plots was set by the municipal executive board at €305,000 each. The opposition, however, believes this amount is far too low.
Sven Schaul from the citizens' initiative "Gemeng Dippach" explained: "What is simply blatant is that if you know the local council bought this land three years earlier for €1.1 million, and you take 75% of that, you arrive at a price of €820,000. The question, therefore, is how a municipal executive board can turn a plot worth €820,000, based on the price paid at the time, into a €305,000 plot."
During the local council meeting in March, Luc Emering, a Democratic Party (DP) member of the municipal executive board, explained that the lower valuation was a deliberate decision aimed at keeping registration fees as low as possible. He said he fully stands by this choice, adding that it was a matter of treating all the municipality's residents equally.
Emering said the board looked at the prices at which it had acquired land over recent years in various areas, noting that those prices – €100,000 per hectare for land outside the General Development Plan (PAG) – were accepted each time by the registration authorities. According to Emering, the board applied the same prices to this agreement. "We did not want to create a situation where, having made previous acquisitions, we gave this particular owner a higher amount than the others," he said.
As for the land in Schouweiler, the municipality wanted to acquire it partly to create a school path for children and partly for flood protection measures. According to Emering, both of these projects are absolutely necessary.
He noted that a block of flats is situated directly on the banks of the waterway. A few years ago, he said, people nearly lost their lives there after becoming trapped in a garage they could not escape. Emering stressed that the accusation that the board is "giving away several hundred thousand euros" is simply false. He argued that for the board, flood protection is "simply worth it […] just as it is worth it for the children to be able to use a path and not have to walk along a very busy road."
The local authority intends to stand its ground and will soon invite the landowner to meet the municipal executive board in order to find alternative solutions. On the Dippach site, a car park and social housing will be built as originally planned.
The Dippach opposition also accuses the municipal executive board of lying about a prior legal opinion regarding the proposed transaction. It alleges that on 16 March, the board claimed an opinion already existed, whereas in reality it was not delivered until 20 April. The board refutes this accusation as well.
