What is a structure plan?
In the Netherlands, a structure plan (structuurplan) was a spatial policy document drawn up by a municipality, region or province under the old Spatial Planning Act (Wet op de Ruimtelijke Ordening, WRO), setting out the broad lines of how an area should develop. It showed, for example, where housing, employment and recreation should go, where green space and roads were planned, and roughly how many homes were needed and at what density. The plan was optional, so many municipalities never adopted one. It mainly bound the authority itself and was not legally binding on residents. What you could build on your land was governed by the zoning plan (bestemmingsplan).
The idea will sound familiar to British readers: county structure plans were long part of UK planning, before reforms in England in 2004 replaced them with other strategic plans. The Dutch and British systems differ in detail, though.
What replaced it
- Structuurvisie (structural vision): from 1 July 2008, the new Spatial Planning Act (Wro) replaced the optional structure plan with a compulsory structural vision.
- Omgevingsvisie (environmental vision): since the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) came into force on 1 January 2024, this is the strategic plan. The zoning plan has been absorbed into the omgevingsplan.
| Structure plan (structuurplan) | Optional; mainly bound the authority itself, not legally binding on residents. |
|---|---|
| Zoning plan (bestemmingsplan) | Governed what you could build on your land. |
| Structural vision (structuurvisie) | Compulsory under the Wro from 1 July 2008; replaced the optional structure plan. |
| Environmental vision (omgevingsvisie) | The strategic plan since the Omgevingswet came into force on 1 January 2024. |
| Omgevingsplan | Together with any permit, the only basis that gives you the right to build. |
Application
- Find the rules that apply now. For a specific Dutch plot, use “Regels op de kaart” in the Omgevingsloket, which also shows the old zoning plans.
- Read the long-term vision. The omgevingsvisie, and often an older structuurvisie, is usually published on the municipality’s website.
- Use it when buying. On the edge of a town, check whether housing, business parks or roads are planned nearby. Farmland does not become building land just because a vision marks it for housing.
- Ask the municipality what currently applies if the plan is old or vague.
Common mistake: assuming you may build because a structure plan or vision shows an area as residential. Only the omgevingsplan and any permit give you that right.
Related terms
- Zoning plan
- Planning permission
- Building plot
- Permit-free building
- Suburbanisation
Want to know more about building terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.