Court orders Vinnytsia City Council to grant the media access to the city's master plan text

The Vinnytsia District Administrative Court ordered the Vinnytsia City Council to provide the NGO "Automaidan Vinnytsia" with a copy of the text part of the city's master plan.

According to the ІМІ's regional representative, the judgement was made on January 2, 2024.

The court also recognized the City Council's refusal to provide the NGO with a copy of the document as unlawful.

At the same time, the court refused to order the City Council to post the text of the master plan on the Council's official website, as the plaintiffs requested.

The organization sued after the City Council refused to provide the documents in response to a request for public information in May 2023. The Council argued that "the text materials (explanatory note) to the Vinnytisa City Master Plan have the stamp 'FOU' (for official use), therefore a copy of the requested documentation can not be provided."

It also turned out that in February 2023, the City Council's executive committee adopted decision No. 288 on the "Procedure for publishing information on the official web portal of the Vinnytsia City Council." According to this document, the city authorities would not post "the the content of the Vinnytsia City Master Plan, the zoning plan, changes to the master plan, detailed territorial plans" before the martial law is lifted.

Judge Yuliya Boshkova disagreed with the City Council's arguments and noted that they did not comply with the "threefold test" criteria and did not specify what what exactly would be the harm of providing the socially important information.

In view of this, the court ruled in favor of "Automaidan Vinnytsia".

According to the IMI representative in the Vinnytsia oblast, the NGO plans to post the reply given by the City Council in the online media outlet founded by the NGO: depytaty.pro.