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Regional Plan Clears Wind Zones With Site in Dresden’s Heide

The decision triggers a public test of how far wind targets can go in a prized urban forest.

Overview

  • Regional planners approved publishing the draft on Monday with one dissenting vote, opening a comment period from May 7 to July 6 with public briefings across the region.
  • The map includes an approximately 80‑hectare priority area inside the Dresdner Heide, a protected city forest used for recreation and cooling the urban core.
  • Sachsenforst said it will fight turbines in the Heide, warning of wide access cuts, thousands of felled trees, concrete foundations, and risks to birds, bats, and the forest’s public use.
  • The draft is designed to meet Saxony’s 1.3% land target for wind by 2027, expanding designated area from about 600 hectares to roughly 4,470 hectares with no reserve buffer.
  • Officials cautioned that without a binding plan by late 2027, developers could pursue projects outside these zones and under looser default setbacks, reducing local control over siting.