Looking up the omgevingsplan: what can be built next to your home?

From bestemmingsplan to omgevingsplan

The Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act) has applied since 1 January 2024. Under it, every municipality has a single omgevingsplan for its entire territory, replacing the former bestemmingsplannen (zoning plans). Those old zoning plans have not disappeared: for the time being they form part of the omgevingsplan, until the municipality replaces them with new rules. Municipalities have until the end of 2032 to complete this.

What does an omgevingsplan contain?

• Functions: which land is designated for housing, businesses, hospitality, green space, traffic or agricultural use.
• Building rules: how high and how large buildings may be, and where on a plot.
• Use rules: for example, whether you may run a business from home or let part of it.
• Rules for ancillary structures such as an extension, shed or dormer window. See a dormer or extension after purchase.
• Protected values such as listed buildings and protected townscapes and village views. See living in a listed building.

How to look it up

1. Go to the Omgevingsloket (the national environment and planning portal) and choose Regels op de kaart (Rules on the map).
2. Search by address or plot. You will then see the rules of all government bodies for that location: municipality, province, water authority and central government.
3. Click on the omgevingsplan and view the function and rules for the plot itself and for the surrounding plots.
4. Also look at draft plans and plans in progress: these show what the municipality intends to change.
5. Older zoning plans and related documents can still be consulted via Ruimtelijkeplannen.nl.

You can find the Omgevingsloket via omgevingswet.overheid.nl. The map is extensive; take your time, or ask the municipality for an explanation if anything is unclear.

Finding building plans in the neighbourhood

The omgevingsplan tells you what is allowed, not what will actually happen. For current plans, look at:

• Official announcements (officiële bekendmakingen): applications for and granted environmental permits (omgevingsvergunningen) in the area are published. See looking up permits.
• The municipality's website and council documents: area visions, housing development sites and major infrastructure projects.
• Empty plots, construction fencing and demolition work you notice on a walk around the neighbourhood.
• Conversations with neighbours: they often know what is going on.

What to pay extra attention to

• View: a meadow with an agricultural function may already have been given a residential function in a draft plan.
• Businesses: which environmental category (milieucategorie) is permitted on nearby business parks? That says something about noise, odour and traffic.
• Height: may taller buildings that block the sun be built next to or opposite your home?
• Your own plans: are you allowed to build the extension or dormer window you have in mind?
• Living environment: noise from roads, railways and air traffic. See noise, air and climate.

The property report shows the permits and announcements in the immediate vicinity of the address, and whether the home is a listed building or lies within a protected townscape. That way, you already know what is going on in the area when you go to the viewing.