Pratteln’s Green area initiative accepted
Community-owned green spaces in residential zones of Pratteln (BL) can no longer be used for construction any longer. Voters accepted a corresponding initiative on Sunday and turned down a counterproposal submitted by the local council.
The unformulated initiative, submitted by the “Independent Pratteln” party, was accepted with 1,659 Yes-votes against 1,162 No-votes. The counterproposal was turned down, with 1,417 votes against 1,233 votes. The voter participation was at 36,4 per cent.
The initiative calls for the community-owned spaces in residential zones need to remain free from development. Furthermore, such free spaces should be made available wherever possible in residential areas.
The initiative committee said that green spaces were important counterparts to condensed urbanisation. In addition, the management and local council both repeatedly presented construction projects that would have partly affected green areas and used them for construction purposes.
The counterproposal turned down was not as far-reaching as the initiative. It aimed to secure large free spaces in residential areas “as far as necessary and in adequate measure”. Also, “as many as possible” additional green areas were to be preserved. The local council argued that the initiative would lead to a lack of free spaces necessary for future infrastructure constructions. The municipal council also declined the initiative. However, the local council needs to work on the legal measures with the acceptance of the initiative and forward it to the municipal council.
Road works on Liestal bypass to start today
Vital work on the Ergolz overpass of the A22 at Liestal, including the construction of lane barriers, is due to begin today (Monday). During the construction, drivers need to take note of nightly closures.
Critical sections of the road will be overhauled correspondingly. This will partly include reinforcements and new lane barriers.
The roadworks are set to take place in two stages, resulting in closures either at night or during weekends. A crucial closure of the Waldenburg-Basel slipway is planned for the summer holidays. With this measure, traffic obstructions should be reduced as far as possible.
Simultaneously, 500 metres of pavement will be renewed in the north connected to the Ergolz overpass due to winter damage.
Ammoniac emission on Kraftwerkinsel Birsfelden
A quantity of Ammoniac gas leaked from a building of the Alternativ-Energie-Birsfelden (AEB) at the Kraftwerkinsel Birsfelden on Sunday morning. This led to a large-scale operation of the ABC unit and fire fighters. The Kraftwerkinsel was closed to public access during the operation. There was no danger to the public or environment at any time. Nobody was injured.
An emergency call was made to the operations centre of the Baselland police at 11.40am on Sunday. According to current investigations by the police, an unmeasured amount of ammoniac had leaked from a cold storage room at the plant. Part of it had been released into the atmosphere via a chimney.
Regular readings revealed that there was no danger to the public or environment at any time. The Kraftwerkinsel was closed off as a precaution for three hours until about 5pm, and visitors to the island were escorted away from the scene. The dock festival, held nearby at Birsfelden, was not affected by the operation.
The specific circumstances leading to the emission of ammoniac are part of an ongoing investigation led by the police and the public prosecution of Baselland. Apart from police and public prosecution, the ABC unit, fire fighters, the water protection of Baselland, the ABC coordinator, and the local council staff of Birsfelden were involved.