The mayor's proposal to further examine the possibility of realizing an inter-municipal commercial and industrial area between Braunschweig and Salzgitter was rejected by a very narrow margin with 20 votes in favour, 20 against and one abstention.

In addition to the Lord Mayor, 11 council members of the CDU parliamentary group, three council members of the MBS parliamentary group, one council member of the Die Linke parliamentary group, one council member of the FDP parliamentary group and three council members of the SPD parliamentary group voted in favor of further examination.

14 councillors from the SPD parliamentary group, three councillors from the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group, two councillors from the CDU parliamentary group and one councillor from MBS voted in favor of an immediate termination of this project. One councillor from the SPD parliamentary group abstained from voting.

"I very much regret this decision. The disputes and hostility at times suggested that it was a question of the end of the West, rather than a pure test project," explained the Lord Mayor. "I fear that Salzgitter will fall behind in future when it comes to structural policy funding from the state of Lower Saxony," summarizes Klingebiel.