Response to interpellation 2022/23:143 on the reconstruction of national road 41
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that the importance of agricultural land is taken into account through legislation where the preservation of land with cultivation value is an important public interest 1. KD emphasizes that consultations always take place and that Trafikverket works to improve its routines to create productive dialogues where landowners are heard 2. KD sees no need for additional initiatives but is prepared to take such to strengthen the consultation process. KD assumes that Trafikverket works with good dialogue so that people are listened to 3. KD does not want to comment on the individual case but takes note of what has been presented 3.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Mikael Larsson has asked me if I intend to take the landowners' views into account in the work to produce a new road and railway plan for the reconstruction of national road 41 and, if so, in what way. Mikael Larsson has further asked me if I intend to weigh the importance of agricultural land in the planning of new infrastructure and, if so, in what way. Additionally, Mikael Larsson has asked me if I intend to work towards taking some initiatives so that such matters can be improved through consultation and dialogue between the affected landowners and Trafikverket.
I believe that Mikael Larsson and I are in complete agreement regarding the great importance of agriculture and the countryside. I would, however, like to emphasize that when land needs to be taken for infrastructure, the process and the trade-offs to be made are clearly regulated in various laws. A new road or railway shall be given such a location and designed so that the purpose of the railway is achieved with minimum intrusion and inconvenience without unreasonable cost. Consideration shall be taken of the urban and landscape image and of natural and cultural values. This basic principle exists in both the Road Act and the Act on the Construction of Railways and is the starting point for the planning.
Furthermore, there are provisions in the Environmental Code regarding the management of land and water, which also shall be applied. Among these is a provision aimed at the protection of agricultural land.
Consultation with the landowners is always conducted when a road or railway plan is being developed, and the comments provided are taken into account in several steps.
I have full confidence that Trafikverket applies the legislation in a correct manner. The government is also, of course, bound by these laws in the government's review of appeals.
Consultation and dialogue are always difficult matters where one party may feel disappointment that the outcome might not be what was hoped for. I have great confidence, even in this case, that Trafikverket is working to achieve functional and productive consultations. I assume that Trafikverket is continuously working to improve its routines if and when it is needed.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Mr. Speaker! I would first like to thank the Minister for the answer. I agree with some things, but I would like to dig down and delve deeper and ask a number of follow-up questions on the answer.
Something that I believe we are completely in agreement on is that it is important to have a robust and traffic-safe infrastructure throughout the country, regardless of whether we are in the city or in the countryside.
Riksväg 41, which this concerns, runs between Borås and Varberg. It has been rebuilt in stages. Reconstructions of the entire stretch have not been carried out; instead, it has been divided over a number of years.
The stretch of road that is now subject to reconstruction has certainly been subject to reconstructions over the last 60-70 years. It is a road that has been the subject of this for a long time, but a holistic approach has not been taken.
The last time it was relevant to rebuild the section between Björketorp and Sundholmen was 2008-2009. At that time, there was a proposal to lay a new road section along the railway on the Viskadalsbanan. All landowners were completely in agreement that it was a very good alternative.
Today, the proposal is that the old national road 41 shall remain. A completely new railway shall also be built. Then, a local road shall be built for the properties that exist and the people who live along the road, which one shall be able to drive on to get out onto the larger roads.
Considering what the Minister of State says in his answer regarding the landscape image and natural and cultural values, I do not think it quite adds up. It will become more difficult to cultivate the agricultural land in Viskadalen when the new road is in place.
What is very important in this issue and which engages a region and landowners is that no one is against a new road. Everyone thinks it is very good to build a new road. Everyone sees that it is important from a traffic safety point of view. But one wants it to be built in a smart way so that not too much agricultural land is taken. It must be possible to continue to cultivate the agricultural land in Viskadalen, which we are talking about now.
This is an example of how dialogue and cooperation perhaps have not functioned in a satisfactory way between Trafikverket and the affected landowners. There are surely more such examples around the country. I have personally encountered them during the previous four years that I served in the Riksdag's Committee on Transport.
I highlight this as an example of how it can happen. Therefore, I would like us to have a dialogue and a conversation on a more general level regarding this.
Mr. Speaker! My question in the first stage is whether the Minister considers that laws and guidelines particularly take into account the importance of agricultural land when designing new roads and railways. Is the Minister prepared to review this given the situation of the landowners in Viskadalen at riksväg 41 and also in other parts of the country?
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Mikael Larsson! I understand that this is a question that engages. I appreciate the member's commitment. I also appreciate that the member asks me to answer so that we can have a dialogue on a more general level. Mikael Larsson knows that a minister cannot comment on individual cases. I also do not want to comment on the individual case but keep the debate more general.
All situations must be assessed based on their prerequisites and the different interests that are relevant in the individual case. When it comes to agriculture, agricultural land and agricultural policy, it is a very important issue for the government. It is a view that I know I share with Mikael Larsson and Mikael Larsson's party.
It is also one of the reasons why I, as Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, am included in the newly formed Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure, in order to handle several of the important issues for the whole of Sweden to function within the same ministry.
When roads and railways are to be built, there is legislation in place that must be followed by both Trafikverket and other authorities, as well as by the government and courts. This regulates both how trade-offs are to be made and that consultations must take place.
Consultation and dialogue between affected landowners and Trafikverket is a very important part of the process leading up to a road or railway plan. The existing legislation implies that the landowners' views must always be taken into account in the work of preparing road and railway plans. Consultation takes place in several steps in the physical planning process.
Mr. Speaker! As I said initially, I have confidence that Trafikverket is working to ensure functional and productive consultations. I assume that Trafikverket is continuously working to improve its routines.
Consultation shall take place with individual landowners but also with authorities such as the County Administrative Board. The County Administrative Board has a special position in the legislation when it comes to the planning of new roads and railways and monitors public interests.
That the importance of agricultural land shall be taken into account in the planning of new infrastructure, together with other individual and public interests, follows from the applicable legislation. That the preservation of cultivation-worthy land is specifically mentioned as an important public interest which, together with other interests, is taken into account during exploitation.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
In this part, I will elaborate a bit more on consultation and cooperation, which the Minister also touched upon. It would be interesting if we could go into a bit more detail on that.
Agricultural land is important and has perhaps become even more important, especially linked to the security policy situation that we in Europe now find ourselves in. We see that we need to produce more food in Sweden. That we are to produce more food in Sweden is also something that our food strategy says.
I mean that regardless of what one builds - a new railway, a new road, power lines, or whatever it may be - one should build in such a land-efficient manner that one does not claim an unnecessarily large amount of land. In that situation, dialogue and cooperation are extremely important.
As I said initially, during my previous four years in the Committee on Transport, I have encountered this problem. One might, as a landowner out in the countryside, slightly encounter the attitude, in this case at Trafikverket, that it is big brother the state that decides how one should do things. One just has to fall in line. It is a bit unfortunate if one has that attitude from the side of Trafikverket.
The Minister himself mentions in the answer that in a large project it is difficult to ensure that everyone is one hundred percent satisfied. Regardless of what we are talking about, everyone understands that it is never a party that can be one hundred percent satisfied.
In this case and in many other cases, one may perhaps not have fully weighed in the importance of agricultural land. In previous investigations, there have been alternatives to build in a much smarter way. But ten years later, one completely disregards that and proposes to build in a completely different way. That can also be something that makes people think that it does not work.
Then we are once again back to this with dialogue, cooperation and consultation. It is clearly regulated in law how consultation shall proceed, and we know which laws and regulations apply - we have the Road Act, the Environmental Code and a whole number of different ways to regulate and work with this.
Again: If, on a general level, signals are received that consultation and cooperation are not working – it could be towards landowners, but it could also be towards municipalities and other public actors – my next question to the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is whether he intends to take any initiatives here or conduct a review of how the laws and regulations for consultation and cooperation look. It is about making this better and, in fact, also about strengthening the little person's – the individual's – right to express themselves and provide opinions. It must be possible to conduct a dialogue to find the best possible ways to, in this case, plan for new infrastructure.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! We are somewhat in a deepening regarding consultation and dialogue, and I want to make the comment that consultation is an ongoing process that takes place throughout the entire planning process, up until the announcement for review. The consultation must have different orientations depending on how far along in the planning process one has come. Which issues are relevant for consultation depend on whether it is early or late in the planning process.
Through consultation, the person who intends to build a road or railway shall exchange information and seek views. In that context, the attitude—on a general level, of course, as I do not wish to comment on the circumstances in the specific case—should not be such that anyone perceives it as having to fall in line, but rather here the views that exist shall be sought by the person who intends to build a road or railway. The number of consultation occasions shall also be adjusted so that the consultation circle is given the opportunity to understand and influence the project's direction.
This answers a bit of what Mikael Larsson is getting at regarding the feeling of not being understood. The consultation is intended so that one can both understand and be able to influence the project's direction. Consultations often take place both through physical meetings and in writing, and the review is a separate part of the consultation. It comes later in the process and is therefore more detailedly regulated.
When it comes to the county administrative boards, they have an important role in the work of planning infrastructure and are an important consulting party. The county administrative board decides whether the project can be assumed to entail a significant environmental impact and approves the EIA, i.e., environmental impact assessments. The county administrative board also submits a review statement with approval of the road or railway plan before it is sent for adoption. If the county administrative board does not approve the road or railway plan before adoption, Trafikverket may not adopt the plan, and it is then submitted to the government for adoption. That is how the process looks.
The County Administrative Boards have a very important mission here, including specifically monitoring the land use regulations and the national interests. Agriculture can be both a private and a public interest, and as a public interest – which corresponds to what Mikael Larsson was touching upon regarding our food supply – it is monitored by the County Administrative Boards.
Regarding the question of whether I intend to take any initiatives regarding this, I assume, as I also said in my answer, that Trafikverket is continuously working to improve its routines and its work when it comes to establishing functioning and productive consultations. Then it is, as I also said, about the different parties both understanding and being able to influence the project's direction.
The nature of the matter also involves showing an understanding of the interests that exist. It often involves a large state actor, Trafikverket, in dialogue with what Mikael Larsson describes as the little person. That is not how it should be perceived, but all viewpoints must be taken seriously. Good dialogue is the foundation for a good and functioning consultation. Then, in the end, it may still result in something that one does not one hundred percent – or actually, to some extent at all – agree with, but an important part of the process is that one has been heard and understood. Then, I believe, it is easier to have an understanding for the fact that it does not always turn out exactly as one had thought.
I see no need for further initiatives at the present time but am always ready to take such as to specifically strengthen the consultation and dialogue process, as it is a very important part of the work of building infrastructure in Sweden.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Mr. Speaker! I also thank the Minister for this answer.
I truly believe that Trafikverket applies this in the way it is currently written that it should be. But it is clear that one can wonder whether what is written regarding consultation and cooperation today is what is correct. It is a clear message I want to send to the Minister, given that I encounter this in many places both in my constituency and around the country.
In this specific case, which has also been appealed to the government, one could easily have decided to remove the old road and convert it into agricultural land. Then many of the landowners would have been very satisfied, and one would have come a good way toward Trafikverket and the landowners meeting.
I want to thank you for a good debate and dialogue, which we have had here, but I want to clearly convey how this with consultation and cooperation works today and how it can be improved. It is about the state being on the side of the little person all around the country, regardless of whether it concerns the city or the countryside.
As I said initially, this is about everyone fundamentally being in favor of a safe transport infrastructure and a good infrastructure – but it is also about a strengthened property right and that people should get to feel that the property right means something. The property right is about infinitely more than forest land; it is also about the fine agricultural land we have all around in our country.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to once again thank Mikael Larsson for the interpellation. I know that these are issues that evoke great engagement and many emotions. Again: I cannot and do not want to comment on the individual case, but I take with me what Mikael Larsson has brought to my attention here in the chamber today.
This is a question that often recurs, and there are certainly different ways to improve routines and so on. I assume that Trafikverket is continuously working on this when it comes to the important part of infrastructure projects that concerns consultation and a good dialogue. One must be understood, listened to, and not least taken seriously so that one can accept different projects to a greater extent. Even if one does not share the direction one hundred percent, an important part is that one has had a good consultation process and a good dialogue. To the extent that this needs to be sharpened, I assume that Trafikverket is doing so.
I look forward to a continued good dialogue regarding these types of questions with Mikael Larsson and other members of the Swedish Riksdag.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.