In December 2016, the administration was commissioned by a resolution in principle to have a district development concept drawn up for Salzgitter-Gitter and to review the existing plans as part of this. This was triggered by a private individual's wish to develop an area southwest of Hohenroder Weg for residential development.

A village development and renewal plan was drawn up back in 1979 and amended again six years later. On this basis, a development plan with design statutes was drawn up for the Gitter area.

Since 2018, the focus has once again been on finding out where Gitter can develop further in terms of construction: Where is the potential for residential building land, should private green spaces in the village center be built on, for example, and are further areas appropriate to round off the village location?

Around 150 residents accepted the invitation from city planning officer Michael Tacke to the kick-off event for the Gitter district development concept on February 28. After Mr. Tacke had explained the reasons for the investigation and development of the district development concept, the Braunschweig-based firm Architektur und Stadtplanung, which was commissioned to draw up the concept, presented the inventory and the resulting potential analysis with its owner Dierk Grundmann and his colleague Norbert Thiele. For Salzgitter-Gitter, two possible types of potential residential areas were identified: Areas for inner densification and areas for consolidation.

A total of 19 areas with residential building potential were identified and examined and evaluated on the basis of various quality criteria, such as topography, favorable location, development, integration into the landscape and emissions.

The Grundmann office also examined whether the existing statutes such as the design statutes, the conservation statutes and the "Git 5" development plan should be revised or even repealed.

Michael Tacke made it clear that the opinions of the citizens are very important to him and that the results presented are a basis for discussion. "We do not necessarily want to designate building land," he emphasized. An individual case regulation, such as the purchase of individual plots of land by the city, is not planned. Rather, the aim is to keep an eye on the overall development.

During the discussion, some citizens clearly expressed their reservations about possible residential development on the outskirts of the town, particularly in the south and south-west. The eastern edge of the village is impaired by the B6 due to noise pollution and is therefore only available to a limited extent for residential development. Instead, the partial redensification of the private green spaces in the center of the village and the greening of the edges of the village were advocated. It was also suggested that the restrictive regulations of the design statutes should be changed in order to achieve greater building freedom.

City planning officer Michael Tacke was also happy to accept this comment and said that a moderate relaxation of the design statutes would be quite conceivable.

The suggestions and wishes of the citizens should be appropriately acknowledged. It is therefore intended to bring about further coordination on the district development concept in the steering committee, consisting of representatives of the South Local Council, the village community and the administration.

Before the district development concept is presented to the council for a decision in late summer, a further public information session will be held on site.

Anyone who has questions or would like to contribute ideas can contact the City of Salzgitter's urban planning department (contact below).